


It Was Always You

by A_Lonely_Dreamer



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Anger, Drama, Family, Heavy Angst, High School, Hurt, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 14:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 60,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7806208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Lonely_Dreamer/pseuds/A_Lonely_Dreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas Strife moved away from Destiny Islands when he was 6 years old. Away from his old home, his old life and most importantly, his bestfriend.. Sora Leonhart. At the age of 15 Roxas and the family move back into their old house... but why does Roxas hate Sora so much? What are all these secrets, promises and lies? Sora x Roxas, rated teenage and above for language and Yaoi later on as well as mild depictions of fictional suicide and death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where Are We Moving To?

**Author's Note:**

> My very first fiction. Proud to finally post in on AO3, please enjoy!

The sky over Twilight Town was fully risen, shining its magnificent orange rays across the city. One daring ray shot straight down towards the eastern suburbs of the city, weaving its way over the sprawling tan terrace roofs of the houses moving closer and closer to its destination. The ray began glowing and glowing, focusing its energy until it gathered enough power to penetrate the blackout blinds of a certain bedroom.

The ray had reached its destination, beneath the blackout blind adorned window was a single bed laid out horizontally against the cream coloured window wall. In fact all four walls of this bedroom were cream, a plain cream that mirrored the rest of the room: the cream door that stood closed on the opposite wall of the room to the window; the cream closet door that stood fully open to the left of the bedroom door itself, clothes thrown out haphazardly onto the floor; to the right of the closet door was a cream chest of drawers, all drawers emptied of their contents.

The entire room, save few exceptions, was cream, chosen by the room's occupant for one sole reason, because cream was dull, it radiated no emotion: no excitement, no joy, so much of one boring colour was very uninviting, and that was exactly how the boy wanted it, he wanted to be left alone. Although he loved his family and few close friends dearly, he hated the outside world, because he knew that if you open the door for the outside world, it'll charge straight in, play with your emotions, toy with you, and leave you broken.

Everything the boy could possibly want was in his room anyway, on the wall past the foot of his bed, the one to the right of the door to his room, was attached a 28 inch LCD TV, hooked up to both a _PS3_ and a _Xbox 360_ , allowing for the ultimate gaming experience (so the companies advertised) as well as maximum comfort (the latter could be vouched for by the boy). Next to the consoles was the boy's desk and chair, utilised for homework as well as computer gaming on the boy's large desktop computer. To say it was a teenage boy's paradise was an understatement, yet to the boy it wasn't about paradise, it was about survival, he used homework and video games to escape from himself, from his life, because he hated his life and could only bear the real world for so long before he had to immerse himself in something that was far removed for it. Of course, the machines were a sleek black, absorbing any vivid colours around them, and the chair and desk were cream, matching the cream and black bedspread. Truly the boy's room was not a place anyone looking for excitement would venture.... exactly as it needed to be.

The blond boy, despite his eyes being firmly shut, couldn't withstand the intensity of the previous intruding ray for long; he furrowed his eyebrows and squinted his eyes in a vein attempt to repel the intruding sunlight. However, to no avail, the boy groaned, rolling onto his other side, facing away from the window and that damned ray of sunlight, wearily opening his left eye.

'ROOOOXAAAAS! Mom says you have to get up and pack!' shrieked the high pitched voice of his nine year old sister Marlene up the stairs, penetrating the wood of his bedroom door with her voice.

Clearly the heavens had conspired against Roxas Strife this morning, neither the sun nor his family were going to allow him to hide from the world on what would be a hectic day.

Sitting up in his bed, Roxas Strife tiredly brought his right hand to comb through his bright blond spikey bed hair, refreshing a few of the spikes into more pointy incarnations of his usual gravity-defying hair. Pushing back the cream and black covers of his bed, Roxas moved his legs around so that he could sit on the edge of this bed.

Roxas wiped the sleep from his eyes, allowing a great yawn to escape before he stood from his place of slumber and walked over the cream and black checkered carpet to his bedroom door. Opening the door by the handle, Roxas, still in a haze of tiredness, padded down the hallway of the second floor of the Strife household into the family bathroom.

Closing the door and locking it, Roxas crossed across the large bathroom and peered into the mirror, revealing a slim, pale teenager with blond spikey hair, dressed in a loose grey Twlight Town Struggle League Team t-shirt with said team's logo painted across the front, accompanying the t-shirt was a pair of white boxers shorts, adorned with a black waistland that clung to his thin hips and thighs. Most importantly though, was the pair of insanely bright blue eyes as deep and troubled as the ocean that matched Roxas' stare, a stare full of sadness.

Sighing heavily, not even bothering to smile at his own figure in the mirror, Roxas stripped and began his morning ritual of showering, washing himself, everything a normal person would do when getting ready to face the world. Except Roxas' routine differed from that of anyone else, his also included sitting down in the warm spray of the shower, allowing himself to be overwhelmed by its heat and simply crying. Roxas would cry for at least 15 mintues every morning and every evening in the comfort of the shower's spray, his family all knew that was what he spent so much time in the shower for, they could hear his sobbing quite clearly after all, and they knew never to comment about it (his older brother Cloud had once made a joke when Roxas was 13 about Roxas masturbating and pretending to cry, Roxas didn't speak to him for about 6 weeks after that, until Cloud bought him the expansion pack for his favourite computer video game as a way of saying sorry).

Finishing his routine, Roxas shuffled his way back to his safe haven from the world and dressed himself in a black t-shirt with a short sleeved white jacket accompanied by pure black boxers and white jeans with black pocket patches. Besides being his favourite and most worn outfit, Roxas had packed all of his clothes away into 2 suitcases, both of which lay on the ground at the side of his chest of drawers. In fact, everything had been packed away, all of his consoles, books, everything except for the photos in frames that stood as the centre pieces on top of both his drawers and desk.

Glancing his eyes over each photo in turn, Roxas smiled his first smile of the day, but like everyday, it was a smile embedded with sorrow and longing for the images portrayed on the photos: two young boys varying between the ages of 3 and 6 stared back at Roxas, one was Roxas himself, a tanned, bright-eyed previous form of himself that he could scarsely believe was him once, the boy looked so happy, like he truly loved life (how the two forms of Roxas staring at each other differed)... Or maybe it was that he loved the other boy in the photo, a boy of very similar age, exactly the same height as Roxas himself, with shockingly pointy, chocolate brown hair that defied gravity as equally as Roxas' did.

The chocolate haired boy, in this particular photo, one of the two boys at the beach when they were both 5 clad in their swimming trunks, had great blue eyes, they were the same colour as Roxas' in fact, but whilst his represented the wonderous blue sea, this boy's shone with the glory of the cloudless sky. Roxas smile deepened as he observed the boys embracing each other on the sands of one of Destiny Island's beautiful beaches, looking at the camera with their cheeks touching, smiling a smile of pure happiness.

Roxas, even through the decade old photo, could feel the happiness eminating from the boys... but most of all he could feel and remember the love he once shared with this chocolate haired angel.

'Roxas, for God's sake, come and get your breakfast, we need to be on the road by 12!' Shouted Roxas' father Cid up the staires.

'Okay I'm coming!' Roxas returned.

Peeling his eyes away from the photo, he carefully placed each photo into a few layers of bubble wrap and placed them into a thick cardboard box, with the words 'fragile', 'this way up' and 'be careful' plastered on every inch of it. Turning to his bed he sought his final two possessions that remained unpacked, which also happened to be his most treasured possessions of all, even beyond the consoles and video games, even beyond the photos.

The first he found hanging on the cornerpost of his bed, a beautiful silver necklace in the shape of a pointed cross attached to a silver chain, a gift from the chocolate haired angel for his 6th birthday. Roxas took the chain in his right hand and quickly secured it around his neck, sometimes he was afraid he would wake up and find the necklace missing, simply put he needed to know where his necklace was at all times, it was after all his most precious treasure.

Smiling at the chain safetly around his neck, Roxas slid his hands underneath his pillow in search of his other most prized possession, and.... found it missing. Found it missing!?

'Shit, where the hell is it!' Roxas screamed quietly, panic clutching his heart as he turned his bed upside down in his search. Throwing back the bed covers completely the panic dissapated as Roxas caught sight of a small, much under-sized bright blue t-shirt, remembering that he had been feeling sad the night before and felt the need to snuggle into the safety that the t-shirt provided him with. This was Roxas' solution to any bad thoughts or feelings before bed: grab the t-shirt and cuddle it like his life depended on it (sometimes he wondered if it did).

Picking it up Roxas examined the front of it where a photograph had been scanned onto the soft fabric.

The photo was another from the collection of Roxas and the chocolate haired boy, this time the two were sitting on the sofa of the chocolate haired boy's living room, arms slung around each other as they smiled at the camera, sitting as close as possible, relishing the other's presence. Turning the t-shirt around to look at the back, words were written in personal handwriting, clearly written yet obviously belonging to a 6 year old.

Roxas read the words to himself, 'Roxas, don't ever forget me, I love you and I'll love you forever and ever. Love ----' Roxas refused to read the boy's name, it was hard enough to look at photos of him, if he heard or thought his name, he might.... well that doesn't matter, those thoughts were far in the past for Roxas (he hoped). Roxas put the t-shirt amongst the photos in the labelled box, lest the pain squeezing his heart go on any longer. Finally, Roxas packed his checkered bed sheets away before heading down the hallway of the second floor. Reaching the stairs, he listened intently for a second at the top of the stairs.

'Are you telling me he still doesn't bloody know where we're moving to?' Came Cid's  deep, gruff voice.

'I don't want to upset him, this is going to be difficult enough for Roxas, telling him right now or up to this point would have been a terrible idea... and you know that Cid.' Returned the sweet, motherly voice of Ashe Strife, although Roxas could tell she was a tad defensive of her rational being questioned.

'hmf' was the only response she got before Roxas' father took his breakfast plate to the sink, placing it inside the washing bowl.

Just then a knock came at the door of the Strife household, Cid crossed out of the large kitchen, through the very spacious living room into the main hallway of the house, opened the door and stepped out to greet the furniture movers, shutting the door behind him after pulling out a cigarette.

'What's that supposed to mean...' Roxas mumbled to himself in a mixture of confusion and the sleepiness that still plagued him. Roxas' pout however was soon over as he received a soft yet firm shove to the side.

'You could have said excuse me you know, Cloud'.

A much deeper voice (but not as deep as Cid's that's for sure) quickly offered a retort, 'Morning shorty, I'm hungry'. Roxas' older brother Cloud was 3 years older than him, whilst Roxas was about to start his second year of highschool, Cloud had just finished highschool before summer started and was experiencing the world of work through his father's work connection for a year before starting college.

The older Strife had similar blond spikes to his brother except with a much darker shade of blond. Cloud Strife also boasted impressive muscles from his many years of service amongst the elite in the regional struggle league, Roxas himself had gone undefeated from the age of 7 until the age of 13 in every struggle league match he competed in, however, illness had retired Roxas early. Roxas' retirement hadn't bothered him one bit though, in fact his only reason for continuing to struggle after the family moved from Destiny Islands was because of a promise he had made to Him. By that point, he hated Him, because He was a lying bastard, He was the reason for Roxas' illness, He destroyed everything in Roxas' life...

Ruffling Roxas' spikes, the taller blond forced his younger brother to obey him and allow him passage down the stairs, the threat of Cloud messing up Roxas' spikes was ever-present, it had been an effective way of annoying Roxas since he was a toddler, and the  shorter blond preferred avoiding it as much as possible, thus giving into Cloud's demands was a frequent occassion for Roxas.

The younger blond descended the stairs into the 1st floor hallway, taking a 180 turn as he reached the bottom. Moving through the caramel-walled hallway of his house, Roxas passed various hung pictures of the family, taken in what had been their home for the past (almost) 10 years.

'Good morning, Honey!' Ashe greeted her son as Roxas entered the family kitchen, taking his usual seat to the left of Cloud, opposite his mother. Ashe Strife's gentle coloured hair, a mixture of straw and strawberry that glowed with positive energy, she had always had rich and beautifully coloured hair, but ever since the illness of her youngest son, she had imbued herself with all the positiveness she could, and literally glowed with it. Ashe's face was round with prominent cheek bones, a mother's face...it suited her perfectly, angelic was a word that would suit it.

'Morning, Mom..' Roxas returned glumly. Roxas knew his father had just left the house through the front door, explaining the empty seat to his left at the head of the table. The question remained though, an empty seat to the left of his mother, opposite Cloud.. where was Marlene....

'Raaaaaaaaaaaawr!' Screamed Marlene Strife as she attacked the back of Roxas' neck in a bear hug, encircling her arms around his torso.

'Geroff me Marlene' Returned Roxas as he struggled to untie his sister's arms from around him and push her onto Cloud who, unlike his younger brother, returned the 9 year old's hug. Marlene Strife had shoulder length light brown hair and a similar angelic face to her mother, although she was far from angelic by nature, especially when it came to annoying Roxas, she took too much pleasure in teasing the serious teen.

'hmf, you're always so Grumpy, Roxie.' Marlene sing-songed.

'How many times have I told you to never call me that, Marlene...ever!' Snapped Roxas as he poured himself a bowl of cornflakes and orange juice.

'Roxas, how many times have I told you: don't shout at your sister over a silly nickname.' commanded Ashe.

Marlene blew a raspberry at Roxas once Ashe had turned her back, skipping out of the room, clearly happy at her brother's scalding.

Roxas rolled his eyes and munched a few mouthfuls of his cereal before looking up at his mother, who was staring fondly out the window whilst drinking her coffee. Ashe was staring out at the oak tree in the backgarden.

'Mom..' Roxas ventured with his angsty-as-ever voice.

'Yes, Honey?' Ashe returned sweetly, reluctantly ending her gazing.

 _Probably reminiscing_... thought Roxas to himself.

'Are you guys gonna tell me where we're actually moving to yet?'

'Hmm? Oh don't worry about that, just make sure you're all packed up to go.' Ashe smiled back at her youngest son.

'I am packed. I want to know where we're moving. This is my life and my home that you and dad have once again decided to pick up and move. AGAIN.' Roxas emphasised the last word for effect.

'Little guy's got a point, Mom...' Cloud added.

'All you need to know is that we're moving. AND that we need to be on the road by 12. If we make good time, we might even be able to meet our new neighbours when we get there!' Ashe returned with all the positiveness she could muster in the face of a dual onslaught from her boys.

'I'm not little, Cloud!' Roxas snapped after a final mouthful of his cereal.

'Roxas, you just asked to find out where we're moving to, I try and help you, and you snap at me for calling you little. Seriously, priorities right now.' Cloud huffed at his brother.

'Whatever...' Roxas shuffled from his seat at the kitchen dining table and excited out of the front door of the family house.

Almost all of the furniture had been carted out and loaded into moving trucks, as well as the packed boxes. Roxas took one final glance up the street where he had lived for so many years of his life.

 _More like existed. I haven't lived since He..._ No. Roxas would not think about this right now, he would not.

Shifting his glance back down the rest of the street, Roxas admired the suburban houses, the oak trees that took root around the area. Roxas even took the time to look at the identical suburban gardens ranging from house to house...

 _So unimaginative, I bet each and every person just copied their neighbour. I wonder if the interiors are..._ Roxas didn't have time to finish his musings on the boring lives of neighbours he didn't know before a flash of red crossed into his peripheral vision.

THUD. Roxas was suddenly on his back, he could feel the grass underneath him and see the now blue but clouded sky above him. However, what really caught his vision was the mass of red points and emerald eyes on top of him.

'How about a hug or a handshake next time huh, Axel?' Roxas questioned through a fit of laughs as he pushed the owner of the red pointed hair off of him.

'Just wanted to make sure you wouldn't forget our final moment together before you left me behind!' Axel placed his hand over his heart and faked sobbing.

Axel Sakura had been Roxas' bestfrie.. no he couldn't give that title to anyone, not even Axel, not since Him... Axel had been Roxas' closest friend since he moved to Twilight Town, althought Roxas hadn't accepted Axel's friendship until they were 8 years old.

 _It has been almost 8 years since we became friends, maybe he could be my bestfrie... no, no one can be, calling him that would taint our friendship, ruin it, just like it did with Him..._ Roxas thought deeply.

The redhead was a whole foot taller than Roxas now, as tall as Cloud, but he was lanky instead of muscular, despite Axel's vast struggling experience, the teenager was cunning and fast, not a powerhouse. His emerald green eyes reflected his cunning nature, he could tell what you were thinking with his piercing gaze... in fact, he often understood Roxas better than Roxas understood himself, maybe that's why they had gotten close. The fact that Roxas had let anybody get close to him was a total surprise to his family, the lonely boy had found a new friend... a true mystery to the Strife household when it first occurred.

'I'm sorry, who are you again?' Roxas joked, still laughing.

'Name's Axel, got it memorised?' Axel returned with an extended hand and toothy grin.

'A-X-E-L?' Roxas spelled out, accepting the offered hand, hmm okay I can try and remember that.' Roxas joked back once more.

'You better, Rox!' Axel pulled Roxas into a hug.

Roxas returned the hug, truly sad he would be leaving a good friend behind.

 _AGAIN. Leaving a good friend behind AGAIN._ Roxas' mind screamed at him.

A tear sprang from Roxas' left eye as he buried his head into Axel's chest, relishing the contact, it would be a long time until he came to visit Axel and hugged another person who wasn't in the Strife family.

'This isn't goodbye, Rox. It's never goodbye, it's just a see you later, okay?' Axel cooed into Roxas' right ear.

'Yeah, I know.' Roxas smiled up at his friend.

'Hey Rox! You aren't leaving without saying goodbye to us are ya!?' Shouted a high feminine voice.

Roxas' only other two friends, Xion and Demyx hurried up behind Axel and piled into the hug, the four of them enjoying their last moments together as a unit. Christmas would be the earliest they could all be together again... and who knows if a relative demands one of their presences and Christmas turns into summer, or the Christmas next year.... who knows how long their separation would be for. That was why Roxas needed the comfort of the hug to last as long as possible, because he knew the excruciating pain that time apart from those you love can cause. He had taught Roxas that lesson.

Roxas puffed Xion's black, shoulder length hair out of his face, the girl was a little shorter than Roxas, so naturally her hair was attempting to suffocate Roxas in the intense bearhug that was in progress.

'It's not goodbye Xion, it's just a see you later. Right, Axel?' Roxas returned, looking between Xion's similarly ocean blue eyes and Axel's emerald ones.

'Atta boy, Rox!' Axel returned smiling, clearly pleased with his friend's rare optimisim.

'AND what about your most dear friend, Demyx!?' The loud voice of Demyx questioned.

'I don't think I'll ever forget that mullet or sitar any time soon, Dem...' Roxas jested.

'Good, because I'll always remember your grumpiness and anti social habits, not to mention those spikes, I mean do you gel those things up or were you born with them that spikey?' Demyx returned laughing, stengthening his grip on the group hug.

Finally the hug broke apart and the gang looked between each other, the three Twilight Towners smiling brighty as encouragement for Roxas (they knew they needed to support him and ignore their own sadness for the time being). Roxas, returned their smiles with a glum one of his own, preparing himself for the moment when he would leave his friends for the unknown once again.

Roxas chuckled to himself.

'What's so funny, Rox?' Axel half-chuckled alone.

'I really am gonna miss that ridiculous mullet of Demyx's!' Roxas chuckled harder as he gazed at the dirty blond haired teenager's mullet and light green eyes.

'Says you, Spikey hair!' Demyx returned whilst laughing.

Roxas couldn't contain his tears any longer, and his ocean blue eyes allowed the wet, warm tears to pour down his cheeks. The three others quickly reformed the group hug and tightened it, trying to reassure Roxas that all would be okay.

Roxas felt a hand land on his shoulder.

'Roxas, come on, we're ready to roll here and we're running late.' Cid half-whispered to his youngest son, knowing the pain Roxas was experiencing well, he had after all left behind his best friend in Destiny Islands, although that had seemed like a minor loss in comparison to the one Roxas suffered. After all, he and Zack still spoke by phone on occassion.

Roxas, however, didn't budge.

'Rox, I'm serious here, we gotta move.' Cid rephrased his previous statement.

Slowly the group disbanded from their hug and Roxas padded sadly over to the family vehicle, taking one last look of the house, he opened the back left passanger door of the white _2010 Kia Sportage_ that was the family car. Sitting down behind his father's driving seat, to the left of his little sister who was already watching one of the _Twlight_ films for the millionth time on her IPad entranced, Roxas looked out of the window as the car drove off down the street, a place where he could now say he USED to live.

Cloud's gleaming midnight black _Kawasaki Ninja 250_ , his motorbike which he had lovingly named _Fenrir_ roared to life behind the family car as the two vehicles began following the moving crew down the street. Roxas secretly admired Cloud's bike greatly, but he would never, ever, let his older brother know that; Marlene on the otherhand took every opportunity to praise her oldest brother for his 'coolness', just another way the two younger Strife children differed in personality.

Roxas waved as hard as he could at his friends, who waved back, still smiling at him, not allowing themselves to seem sad, they needed to be sure Roxas knew he would see them again... they just had to. Allowing another tear to escape his eye, Roxas allowed himself to sob as he plugged his _IPod_ into his ears and began listening to _Miss You_ by Blink 182.

 _Don't waste your time on me, you're already a voice inside my head...                                I'll miss you, I'll miss you..._                                 _Don't waste your time on me, you're already a voice inside my head...                                I'll miss you, I'll miss you..._

 _How apt..._ Roxas mused to himself as the friends who had helped him survive Twilight Town slowly vanished from his sight.

'You guys gonna tell me where we're actually going yet, then?' Roxas voiced to his parents whislt stifling a yawn.

'Just close your eyes and sleep for a few hours, Roxas, it'll be a nice surprise when you wake up!' Ashe returned from beside Cid.

'Pfft whatever...' Roxas scoffed before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep in the comfort of Blink 182's lyrics.

Half an hour later, Cid Strife spoke to his wife, keeping his sharp eyes on the road ahead of him.

'Kids asleep or occupied, Ashe?'

'Let me look.' his wife returned.

Ashe turned in her seat, noting that Roxas was passed out, a smile on his face as he dreamed, murmuring a little in the process. Marlene was so preoccupied with her movie that it would take more than what would probably be a heated discussion to peel her away from her vampires.

'Hmm, they certainly seem so, yes. I think I know what this is about, Cid.' Ashe informed her husband as he continued to drive onwards

'Oh you do? Great, I won't have to spell it out for ya then, eh Dear? What happens when we get to the new house, sorry, OLD house, Roxas wakes up, sees where we've moved to and flips the - now pardon my French here, Honey - ehem'. Cid cleared his throat before continuing.

'What happens when Roxas wakes up, sees where we've moved to and flips the absolute fuck out?' Cid finished as he raised an eyebrow, still keeping his eyes on the road.

Ashe inhaled an excessive amount of air through her nose before replying. Resting her chin on her right palm with her elbow on the armrest.

'Well, Sweetie, if we hadn't of moved away from the perfect home, our perfect neighbours, our perfect life in Destiny Islands IN THE FIRST PLACE, we wouldn't be in this situation would we?' Ashe responded sharply.

'So this is MY fault then is it, Dear?' Cid curtly added.

'It was YOU who needed the promotion. It was YOU who wanted to be a big shot in the business world. It was YOU who wasn't satisfied with a very high five figure pay check, and just HAD to make it into the six figures with no regard as to your family's feelings on the matter.' Ashe retorted through gritted teeth whilst maintaining her usual gentle smile.

'No regard for feelings, eh? Sounds like me doesn't it, the man who wanted to provide his oldest son with a 'sweet motobike', as he put it when he was 8 years old. The man who heard his 5 year old little boy telling him he wanted to be a 'struggle league master', so moved him to the biggest struggle city in the country. THE MAN (Cid's voice had breached it's usual pitch now) who wanted to make his little newborn baby girl into a princess, and took the job that could make her one without fail. THE MAN who when his wife says ' _Oh I want a diamond bracelet, Cid!',_ can go to any jewelry store in the city and walk out with the most expensive diamond anything he wants for his wife's desire!' Cid ranted, panting slightly from his monologue.

Taking a deep breath and huffing slightly, Cid continued.

'Please do not tell me I had no regard for your OR the kids' feelings, because it's a damn lie, Ashe. What happened with Rox was a tragedy, but dammit I wanted the best for all of us, and I'm trying to make it right here. I knew him and that boy were close, but jesus, Ashe, I had no idea what it would do to Rox if we moved; and as soon as I realised what I'd done, after all of that stuff happened, I started trying to make it right by moving us back, didn't I?' Cid finished.

Ashe was speechless.... but after a few moments she knew she had to answer before Cid thought she was being uncaring towards HIS efforts.

'Cid, you're a wonderful father and husband. I know you're trying to fix this... and I really really love and appreciate you for it.' Ashe turned to her husband, smiling brightly with tears in the corners of her eyes; tears of happiness for her husband's heartfelt efforts, not tears of sadness. Ashe looked over at her husband who still drove onwards, a paragon of attentiveness to the road, yet she noticed a rare bright smile of his own had creeped over Cid's face.

Cid was in his early 40s, a shock of dark blond hair with dull spikes; whilst Marlene resembled her mother, Cloud was a much younger, unrinkled version of Cloud with a rounder face that he inherited from his mother. Cid's blue eyes had been passed onto Roxas, except Roxas' were much deeper and more wonderous to look at than his father's. Wearing a white vest and blue jeans for travelling, Cid looked much more calm than his usual business-Cid-self, it made Ashe happy to see her husband so relaxed, escpecially on what had been such a strenuous moving day already: they were running several hours late already after all!

Ashe and Cid settled back into a comfortable silence, not actually coming to a conclusion as to what they would do when Roxas realised where they were moving to, but agreeing silently to just wing it...

The three vehicles pushed forward across the vast, beautiful countryside that lay between Desitny Islands and Twilight Town. Having come out of the suburbian outskirts and passing by all the country estates that the retired rich townsmen owned, the two Strife parents gazed out at the sprawling open grassland as the sky turned from blue to a cloudy gray. Soon the heavens opened and a ligth downpour rained upon the vehicles for the next 2 hours.

Meanwhile, a certain sleeping blond's Ipod had just run out of battery, leaving his dreams uninterrupted by the various depressing lyrics of his favourite bands. Shifting slightly in his seat, Roxas snuggled into the armrest of his seat and allowed his most vivid dream to continue...

_Roxas opened his eyes, except it wasn't a 15 year old Roxas doing so, it was a small 6 year old boy with a chubbier face, a smaller body and shorter spikey blond hair._

_'Roxie, have you still got your wedding necklace?' A familiar, high pitched voice asked the 6 year old Roxas._

_'Course I do! You got yours?' Replied Roxas fiddling with his cross-shaped necklace before looking up directly into the magnificent sky-blue eyes of another 6 year old boy who stood at the exact same height as Roxas himself. This other boy had slightly chubbier cheeks than Roxas, he was often described as a cherub, whilst Roxas was an angel (their mothers were certainly proud of their little boys). The boy also held similar gravity defying hair to Roxas, except his was pointy where as Roxas' was spikey._

_'Yep! I wear it close to my heart, Roxie!' The boy replied giggling slightly._

_The boy reached between the two of them, grasping Roxas' necklace whilst it was still around his neck and touched it to his own ''wedding necklace'', one in the shape of a crown that was silver in colour and attached to a silver chain, similar to Roxas'. It was clear the two necklaces were part of a set._

_'Remember Roxie, we're gonna phone each other every day and spend every day of every holiday together.' The boy voiced._

_'Even Christmas and birthdays, right?' Roxas questioned uncertainly._

_'ESPECIALLY Christmas and birthdays, Roxie!' The boy returned with a reassuring smile and giggle as if the answer had been the most obvious thing in the world._

_The news that Roxas was moving away had devastated the boys, they both felt the same way, like a piece of their hearts was leaving them. They had spent the previous night crying together in the brunet's bed, holding each other, telling each other that they loved one another and would never, ever forget each other. But Roxas wasn't dreaming that dream this time (maybe memory would be a better word, all his dreams were memories after all)._

_The two boys embraced each other for the millionth time that day, holding onto each other for dear life._

_'I believe you.' Roxas responded after a small pause._

_'You should do, Roxie, I would never lie to you, you know that'. The other boy replied before pulling back and kissing Roxas on the lips innocently._

_'I know you wouldn't.' Roxas returned as he smiled back at the other boy._

_Time flew by as the boys clung to each other on the front lawn of Roxas' house._

_From the front porch Ashe Strife continued to observe the boys along with the brunet's mother. The two mothers were also bestfriends, but right now that wasn't important, they knew they would keep in touch and see each other again. It was the scene in front of them that tore their hearts apart._

_'I can't do it, Aeris, I can't, look at them! They're more than bestfriends, they're a part of each other...' Ashe to her bestfriend as her voice cracked under the emotional strain._

_'Ashe, I can't make any decisions for you, but they will never be the same without each other, they'll change forever if you take them away from each other.' Aeris returned, pulling her crying bestfriend into a comforting hug._

_'We'll stay in touch, Aeris, won't we?' Ashe asked innocently._

_'Unlike our little boys, we both know we will, Ashe.' Aeris responded tearfully._

_Cloud had just finished packing his suitcases into the ''Strife Mobile'' as he and HIS bestfriend had named it. Turning around, Cloud was embraced by his partner in crime himself, Leon._

_'You gonna be okay without me, blondie?' Leon teased as he ruffled Cloud's spikes._

_'I'll miss you, Leon... Won't be the same without you... without any of you guys around. You're my family too...' Cloud responded sadly. Usually Cloud would be as cool as possible around Leon, he couldn't give Leon any ammunition to tease him with, but now was not the time for petty attitudes and both 9 year olds knew it._

_'I'll miss you too, dude. BUT the holidays are only a few months away!' Leon sniffed as he let go off the embrace he had on Cloud, both boys smiled at each other as they, like their mothers, parted on sorrowful, yet positive terms._

_At the side of the road, Cid and the brunet's father shook hands._

_'Been a long time, Zack, gonna miss ya like hell.' Cid Strife addressed Zack, HIS bestfriend._

_'Shut up, man, there's a phone in my house and you know my address.' Zack responded whilst laughing._

_Cid pulled his bestfriend into a bearhug._

_'Ah be quiet you fool.' Cid commanded as he embraced his bestfriend who embraced him back with as much emotion._

_'I'll miss you too, Cid.' Zack voiced._

_After an hour of packing and goodbyes, all the Strifes were in their family vehicles ready to head out on their greatest journey yet, with Cid at the wheel, Ashe in the passenger seat, Cloud behind his mother and newborn baby Marlene in the middle backseat. All, except Roxas, who still clung to the brunet boy as he did an hour earlier._

_Realising it was time to go, the two boys shared one long, last, innocent kiss together before pulling apart._

_'I'll love you forever and ever and ever and ever, Roxie.' The brunet boy's voice cracked as he allowed sorrow to overwhelm him._

_'And I'll love you forever and ever and ever and ever too.' Roxas responded._

_Roxas climbed into the car behind his father, from the pavement the brunet and Roxas spoke once again to each other, for the last time as neighbours._

_'I love you, Roxas.' The brunet said to his bestfriend and other half of his heart._

_'I love you too, Sora.'Roxas replied to his bestfriend and other half of his heart._

_As the Strifes drove further away from their old neighbours and bestfriends. the Leonharts, the familys waved to each other (excluding baby Marlene and the newborn baby girl of the Leonhart family, Sarah). The world melted around the familys as Roxas Strife slowly woke up, realising the car had stopped in front of a large suburban house._

Roxas' sleepy eyes shot open when he realised which house the car had stopped in front of and the fact that the movers were clearly moving his familys stuff into that specific house... HIS old house, in Destiny Islands, the one next door to Him...

The Strifes had arrived at their destination at 11pm and the neighbourhood was already fast asleep.

On the second floor of the house next door, a tired brunet closed the stage play he had been assigned to read over the summer for his English Literature class, a play called _Closer_ by Patrick Marber, and laid his pointy brown haired head onto his pillow.

Drifting off to sleep, Sora Leonhart was completely unaware of the arrival of his new neighbours...his old neighbours in fact. With his eyes closed, Sora began thinking about the one thing he truly desired in this world, Roxas Strife. Whilst some teenagers dreamed of becoming Struggle League superstars and others famous actors, the brunet boy simply wished to be reunited with his blond haired childhood bestfriend... forever.

Furrowing his eyebrows in the midst of his thoughts, Sora dispelled all of negative thoughts: _why did he leave me again?; what did I do, he never even told me, he just left, he just blocked my phone number...; he just left me... again_. Instead, Sora imagined went to his happy place and began thinking of what life would have been like had Roxas never left in the first place... the two of them bestfriends for a decade and a half, just lying quietly together on Sora's bed... just talking to each other and enjoying the company of one another. Then Roxas would move closer to Sora, rest his blond head on the brunet's shoulder and fall asleep snuggling as close as possible.

With this perfect image, Sora's body finally fell asleep for the night, yet his mind travelled back in time as Sora began dreaming of the day Roxas first left him. The same exact dream as Roxas' unfolded in Sora's subconcious, or rather, the same exact memory. The brunet slept onwards, a smile across his sleeping face, remembering their last words together:

_'I love you, Roxas.'_

_'I love you too, Sora.'_

However, had these truly been their final words before Roxas and Sora were separated, it would follow that the two kept a close relationship by phone and indeed saw each other every holiday as they promised each other.

No, the two boys reunited again after their separation, once a few months after this particular moment, and once at the age of 13. What happened during those two occassions drove the two boys apart... But those were different memories, and for now Sora slept onwards, replaying those words over and over in his head again and again:

_'I love you, Roxas.'_

_'I love you too, Sora.'_


	2. Tell Me Why

_One year ago..._

Twilight Town and Destiny Islands had countless differences. Twilight Town was a sprawling urban city, the biggest in the country in fact; the city centre itself was constructed of hundreds of towering skyscrapers, apartment blocks, company headquarter buildings and a handful of important government ones too. Beyond this corporate-centric city centre lay the thousands and thousands of streets that provided the hundreds of thousands of homes for the millions of inhabitants of the city.

Three things had always struck Roxas Strife about Twilight Town: First of all, after some city-mapping tutorials in geography class, Roxas had discovered the general layout of the city was circular, with the city centre at the heart of the circle and with the suburbs, including his house, spreading out and around the centre. Clearly, whoever designed the city had a practical mind, no wonder the city was so well separated into districts. Secondly, why was it called 'Twilight Town', if millions of people lived there and it was known as the capital city of the country, then why was it 'Twilight Town' and not 'Twilight City'...

The final thing that Roxas always noticed about the city, was that the night sky was completely light polluted; Roxas had always loved the song by U2 called _The City of Blinding Lights_ since his mother had first introduced him to the ways of the musical genius Bono, but the song also reminded him of Twilight Town because it _was_ a city of blinding nights as far as the night sky was concerned. In fact you could easily see the sign for the _McDonald's_ in the city centre from a park hill near the Strife family home.

The night sky was another thing that Twilight Town and Destiny Islands differed on. Destiny Islands'  sky was world famous for its nightly beauty, the rich, deep black that filled the sky was adorned with millions of glittering stars, each one shining with its own special magic. To top it off, cyan coloured rays of light streaked across the sky in wide streams, swirling around one another; occassionally, one would dip into the calm, dark blue waters of the ocean that surrounded the islands. Whilst Twilight town's night sky created the image of vibrancy and reality, that life was what you got, Destiny Islands' own night sky held the image of wonder and dreams, that anything was possible if you just wished hard enough.

 _That_ was why a young brunet by the name of Sora Leonhart lay on the short bladed grass of his back garden, stretched out under the night sky. The 14 year old was short for his age, he had a thin body with little muscle, slightly chubby cheeks and very pointy chocolate brown hair. However, what stood out about this teenager the most was his eyes, they were a fantastic blue the same colour as a cloudless midday sky; years ago people used to say that his eyes had a spark of electricity running through them, but that spark and those comments had long vanished.

Sora was wearing red cargo shorts and a white t-shirt, with his crown necklace of course accompanying and completing the outfit. A small breeze filtered its way through the blades of grass, snaking through each one, rustling them as it passed. The blades gently scratched against the bare calves and knees of the chocolate haired boy as his sky-blue eyes stared wonderously up at the stars.

With his head resting on his hands folded behind his head, he thought about the one thing he always thought about whenever he was alone: the sunshine haired boy who he spent every day of his life with until they were separated. It had been almost 9 years and _still_ he thought about Roxas each and every day.

'What happened between us, Roxie...?' He asked to no one but the night sky.

Of course there was no answer.

'What did I do to make you hate me...?' Sora asked again.

Again, there was no answer.

'Why did you cut me out of your life...?' The brunet questioned once more.

No answer.

'Did I do something to upset you...?'

No answer.

'Did I say something wrong...?'

No answer.

'Am I just such a bad friend you wanted me out of your life...?' Sora asked a little louder and with a whimper in his voice.

'You can't blame yourself, Sora.' Replied a masculine voice.

Sora, in his daze, jumped out of his skin at the unexpected response, turning his head in all directions to find the intruder of his private moment with the night sky.

'R-Roxas...?' Sora knew Roxas' voice could never have become as deep as the one that had just spoken, but it was worth a shot... at least Sora's mind reasoned so.

'Mmm no, not quite.' Retorted the deep voice.

Stepping out of the shadows of the Leonhart veranda was none other than Sora's older brother, Leon Leonhart.

Leon's full name was actually Squall Leonhart, he had taken 'Leon' from the beginning of his surname and used it as his first since he was 7 years old, well, Cloud Strife had the idea first, but Leon would never admit that to anyone, even if Cloud was his bestfriend. The older Leonhart was much taller and muscular than his younger brother, bearing a small scar across the centre of his face from a Struggle League touranment at the ages of 17 (which he had still won despite the blood dripping from his face and dizziness from the blow he sustained). His hair was much longer than Sora's too, falling gracefully to his shoulders in a very majestic manner; the taller Strife was also a lot more reserved than his loud, happy, generally puppy-like brother.

 However, the two boys did share some qualities: The same parents for one; both their hair was a cross between chocolate and cinnamon coloured (with Sora's more to the chocolate side); and finally, Leon's eyes were also light blue, except his radiated wisdom and experience, whilst Sora's held wonder and excitement.

'I know you miss him, Sora, but you can never blame yourself for what he decided to do.' Leon voiced to his brother whilst walking towards the sitting younger Leonhart.

Leon sat down beside Sora a few feet away from him and gently reclined, resting his head on his right forearm that he had tucked behind his head. Sora knew his older brother well enough to take that as an invitation to go back to his previous care-free star gazing position, which Sora gladly did, he missed the comfort the night sky was providing him with before Leon interrupted.

'Leon, how can I not blame myself? Why else would he refuse to answer my calls and block my number, my _Facebook_ , every single way I tried to contact him?' Sora questioned, hoping that his wise brother could shed some light on the situation (although he had never been able to thus far).

'Who knows... I would say that perhaps Roxas is just an asshole and has no regard for your feelings.' Leon Began.

'Grrrrrr...' Was the faint growling noise that could be heard from Sora; Leon discretely glanced at his brother whose left eye had twitched slightly.

'I would, BUT, I know that puppy Sora might turn vicious and try and maul me if I said anything bad about his dear Roxie.' Leon finished, chuckling slightly by the end of his statement.

'Roxas would NEVER do anything like that to me, Leon... would he?' Sora replied.

Sora always tried to act mature around his older brother, he wanted Leon to recognise him as a fellow adult, not as a 'puppy' (even though Sora kind of liked that title in secret). Unfortunately, like most conversations concerning Roxas, the inevitable was about to happen and when it did, any hope of seeming mature in front of Leon would evapourate.

Sora's eyes glistened as tears began to form making them look like a once sunny sky filling with droplets of rain. It was too much for him, the tears began pouring, just a few tears at first falling down his cheeks, but then a downpour flooding over the sides of his face onto the grass and his t-shirt. He brought his hands up over his eyes to try and stop the flood of tears, but even with a million hands he would have still failed to stop the tears that poured when he thought of Roxas abandoning him.

Realising that the time for teasing was over, Leon sat up and pulled his younger brother towards him, allowing Sora to rest his head on his left shoulder whilst wrapping his left arm around Sora's shoulders. The points of Sora's brown hair poked at Leon's chin and cheek as he nestled into the comfort his older brother was providing him; Leon was never one for cuddling... or showing much affection, but Roxas was a very serious _and_ dangerous topic of conversation to have with Sora, and an equal means of consolation was required if one ventured into that sensitive area.

Leon knew how sensitive the topic was, yet he had still gone there..

 _Why do you do these things to yourself, Leon?_ The older Leonhart questioned himself.

Suddenly a lightbulb went off in Leon's mind.

'I meant to tell you, Sora! There's going to be a shooting star tonight!' Leon voiced, trying to distract his younger brother from his Roxas-related thoughts.

'R-Really?' Sora replied sniffing a little bit as his tears began to dry with Roxas out of his mind.

'Yeah, saw it on the news and thought I'd come tell you since you were stargazing again.' Leon replied with a genuine smile whilst looking down at his brother.

'Thanks, Leon, I would have probably fallen asleep and missed it if you hadn't of come out here to tell me!' Sora returned happily, returning his brother's smile.

Leon ruffled his brother's points, earning him one of Sora's classic pouts as the younger Leonhart tried to fix his points back into their perfect imperfection. Standing up, Leon began making his way towards the French doors of the Leonhart household kitchen.

'Your hair's a mess anyway, Sora!' Leon called over his shoulder to his younger brother.

'Is not!' Sora retorted, pouting again, except with no one then to comment on it this time.

'Stop pouting and remember to make a wish when you see that star!' Came Leon's deep voice as he closed the door behind him.

Sora returned to his arms crossed reclining position for the third time and looked up at the dark sky once again.

'How does everyone always know I'm pouting...' Sora half-heartedly asked amusedly to no one but the night sky, opening up their dialogue again.

10 minutes later, Sora's eyes were drooping and sleep threatened to take over despite Leon's best efforts to keep his brother awake for the shooting star... Sora's eyes flew open as an orb of burning orange and brown crossed the night sky, lighting it up with great fires as it passed through. Sora's mouth dropped at the beautiful sight before him. The orb rushed its way across the sky, drowning out the magical shine of the stars with its dominating orange, fiery rays. Sora was transfixed by the sight above him, watching as the orange fires of the stars rays turned golden, signalling its iminent departure. Fortunately the golden rays snapped Sora out of his open-mouthed gaze at the star, reminding him of Leon's words about shooting stars and making a wish.

'I wish that Roxas would come back...' Sora spoke confidently to the shooting star as it hurdled through the dark sky.

The second Sora spoke his wish the shooting star left the planet's orbit and zoomed off across the vast emptiness of space, as if it had lingered just long enough to hear Sora's desire before carrying the message back to the heavens...

At least Sora desperately hoped that that was how it worked anyway.

With that, Sora made his way inside the Leonhart household, yawning tiredly every step of the way. Arriving at his bedroom door, Sora fumbled for his necklace, bringing it down from his neck and placing it into the unique crown shaped keyhole, he unlocked his bedroom door and stepped inside, immediately turning and locking the door again lest anyone other than himself step inside his sanctuary.

Shedding his red cargo shorts, Sora climbed into bed in only his bright blue boxer shorts and white t-shirt. As soon as he was comfortable, Sora began to think about Roxas again, except this time it wasn't anything to do with his abandoning of Sora, this time he thought about his younger days with the golden-sunshine-beautiful haired boy, when they would share a bed together during sleepovers and when nothing else mattered in the world except for the the two of them, snuggled closely together in their own private reality. With that wonderful image in mind, Sora easily drifted off to sleep, a bright smile etched across his boyish face.

.o0o.

_Present Day..._

** Roxas' P.O.V. **

Ice. Ice was all I could feel. My body was frozen, I couldn't move a muscle. So here I sat, with no idea what time it was or how long I'd been sitting in the car outside our new home... our _old_ home. It must have been a while though, the movers had unloaded everything into the house and driven off.

My vacant staring was rudely interupted by a figure blocking out the entire window. I just wanted to stay inside the car, surely they would just let me stay inside the car until whatever business they had in the house was concluded and we set off again on our way to the _real_ place we were moving to... right? I mean we couldn't actually be moving here, to Destiny Islands could we? Into the same house?

I heard the passenger door click open and felt the light, warm night breeze flitter across my body. Daring to glance upwards at the figure took all of my courage, afraid of what I might come across if I did.

Thankfully, it was just the smiling face of my mom, and nothing related to pointy brown hair...

'How come we've stopped here, Mom, did Grandma Sheila send a package to our old address or something?' was all I could say with an accompanying nervous chuckle.

My mother locked her kind, caring eyes with mine... I knew what she was going to say, no words were needed.

'Roxas, we wanted to surprise you! Me and your Father both knew that you weren't exactly happy in Twilight Town and what with Cloud's year of experience in business and your father needing a less stressful job anyway... well we just thought now would be the perfect time to move! Marlene's starting Destiny Islands Middle School in her first year so she can easily make new friends as well so it all just... makes sense!' My Mom tried explaining.

'And what about me? I've just started my _second_ year of high school, not my first! What about _me_ and what about _my_ friends? And why would you think I wanted to come back _here_ and live in _this_ house? I couldn't help but exclaim.

Then it hit me... Glancing to the left of my mother I realised that I hadn't just moved back to my old home, I had moved back to my old home the one which was right next door to _him_ , the one person I never wanted to see or hear from again was my neighbour...

Dread replaced the ice in my limbs I could feel my limbs beginning to shake, was I anxious or scared or pissed off? I couldn't tell, all I knew was that I was once again within throwing distance of that _bastard_.

I couldn't help it, I just let the tears explode from my eyes, allowing them to pour down my face and off my body. But I couldn't breathe either, hyperventilation consumed me as I gasped for air. I was choking. I began coughing, turning bright red in what window reflection I could see as I struggled to breathe and sob at the same time. I felt my mother instantly throw her arms around me, cradling me into her embrace as only a mother knows how to in order to make her child feel better. Nestling my spikey head into her shoulder I just kept crying... time was passing by again, except this time it was rushing past me as memories flooded my mind from my younger days, and all of them refreshed the tears, I couldn't stop crying.

The pain _he_ caused me, so much of it, was refreshed in my mind, all the shit I went through because of _him,_ that lying, self-absorbed bastard. I hated _him_ so damn much it was painful, adding to the tears that now poured down my Mother's jacket as well as mine.

_What the hell are you crying about?_

A voice in the back of my mind spoke to me, was I going crazy? After everything _he_ put me through was I now going insane because of _him_?

_That bastard lost his power over you, he can't hurt you anymore than he already has. You couldn't suffer anymore even if he wanted you to..._

Whether I was going insane or not I could find out later, but for the present, I chose to focus on those words of whichever voice in my mind spoke them to me. I really had suffered everything he could throw at me already... what more could he do to hurt me?

That thought made me smile, my tears slowed to a halt and I felt myself slowly start to laugh from behind my sniffing. Gently I pulled my head back from my Mom's shoulder and wiped the tears from my eyes and face with the right sleeve of my jacket.

'Thanks, Mom.' I said with a genuine smile on my face, the first one I'd had since our journey began earlier that day when I left behind my only friends.

My Mom raised a curious, fair-coloured eyebrow at me, but dismissed whatever thought she was having... probably wondering about her youngest son's sanity considering my spontaneous mood swing and laughter...

'Your bed's already upstairs in your old room, Sweetie, why don't you go and get some rest, we've had an exhausting day.' My Mom smiled at me as she suggested I go to bed before I lose my mind any further.

'Yeah... good idea, at least school doesn't start til Monday...' Was all I could muster for words.

'Actually...' My Mom returned pursing her lips slightly, preparing herself to say more. Personally, I didn't like the sounds of this already, but she was my Mom so of course I had to endure what she would say.

'Yeah...?'

'The middle and high schools in Destiny Islands start on the Friday before officially starting for the semester.'

'...' I couldn't even formulate words.

'It's just an introductory day, Roxas, you know, get your classes, meet some people, sign up for clubs, there aren't any lessons!'

'... You know, I kind of understand why we moved here...' I started before fixing a drooping spike into its assigned position.

'Well that's great!' My Mom half-exclaimed, clearly trying to believe that I actually understood why.

'Okay I shouldn't lie, I don't understand at all, Mom.' Her smile dropped into a frown as I continued, 'but you could have at least told me I would have school the morning after we arrived, you didn't have to say where, just that I had school.' I exhaled deeply at the end of my statement, very maturely put if I do say so myself considering the amount of shit currently occurring in my life.

She offered up a weak apologetic smile, 'I know, Sweetie, I'm sorry, I just didn't know what to do or to say, I knew this would upset you...' her voice trailed off as her voice cracked slightly.

This time I threw my arms around her, 'it's okay, Mom, you did what you thought was right.' I smiled at her, locking my ocean blue eyes into her own vibrant ones.

Returning the hug I offered (considering I offered them once in a thousand blue moons), her genuine motherly smile returned. I finally got out from the car, stumbling a bit from the cramps in my legs... I had been in a car for 10 hours roughly so of course that was to be expected. Inhaling greadily the tropical air of Destiny Islands as well as a faint smell of jasmine from our front garden, I slowly padded down the front pathway of our new - _old_ \- home, across the front porch, up the stairs and into my new - _old_ \- bedroom.

I noticed that my room was at least decorated in the style I had chosen when I was first informed of the move (although having no idea where we were moving to). My favourite shade of cream spanned all four walls of the room, a little grey carpet covered the floor and of course my black and white checkered bedsheets lay ready on my new queen sized bed, its headboard against the right hand wall of the room facing the left hand wall where my TV was already hooked up...

_At least I can play some video games tomorrow... God I wanted to practice my ice spells tonight... oh well... tomorrow I guess..._

Walking over to my new bed, I kicked off my shoes (I usually did so at the front door, but tonight I really wasn't thinking of my usual routines) and slipped out of my clothing, entering my bed in only my black boxer shorts and black t-shirt. Well, today might have sucked, but this bed is even more comfortable than the last... always look for the positives, I needed to remember that, I couldn't allow myself to dwell on negatives like I used to, not after last time I got caught up in _him_ -related drama... no, never again.

 

.o0o.

 

Beyond the curtains of the Strife household, one member of the family was still outside in the light air of Destiny Islands' nighttime.

Ashe Strife clicked the fob belonging to the family car into locked; the car was situated on the driveway of the Strife family home on the left hand side of the front porch, quite close to a certain neighbouring household.

'Ashe!' Came a confident feminine voice.

Before Ashe could react she was embraced roughly by a woman of the same height as herself who was dressed in a powder blue dressing gown and had her chestnut brown hair tied back in a neat ponytail.

Recovering from the sudden impact, almost gasping at the shock, Ashe's embracer pulled back from the aggressive hug. Ashe was suddenly staring into two green irises, greener than the leaves of the bountiful paopu fruit trees that were unique to Destiny Islands; the woman's irises eminated nature, adding a sense of calm but mysteriousness to their owner. Their owner being none other than Aeris Leonhart.

'I saw you out the window, I can't believe you're here!' Aeris squealed.

'Did the ever wise and mighty Aeris Leonhart just squeal on my account?' Ashe giggled.

'I certainly did, now come here!' Aeris returned before reissuing the previous bearhug on her bestfriend since highschool. Tears began to form in the eyes of both women, but they were clearly tears of happiness... there was no angst or pain in their embrace, only friendship and platonic love between two bestfriends.

'I-I missed you so damn much, Aeris.' Ashe grinned as she allowed the tears to flow.

'Well, there was a reason I told you the house was for sale again, I suppose I kind of missed you too!' Aeris returned slyly chuckling.

The two shared a comfortable silence that lasted about 5 minutes before they broke apart, still smiling, both of them happy to have their bestfriend back in their life.

'I saw you talking to Roxas, he looks so handsome, he's almost all grown up!' Aeris changed the conversation. 'But I'm guessing from all those tears you didn't tell him everything when you broke the news of the move to him?' She continued raising an amused eyebrow with a grin.

'Mmm not quite, no.' Returned the fair-haired woman. 'Me and Cid sorta decided to wing it a bit hehe...'

'Want me to shoo Sora off to school tomorrow bright and early so he doesn't catch on, then we can figure out what how to tell them while I help you unpack?'

'You're a lifesaver, Aeris.' Ashe smiled, nodding in agreement.

 

.o0o.

 

** Roxas' P.O.V. **

BEEEEP. BEEEEP.

Urgh, fuck, morning already. I swear to God I only just got into bed a few minutes ago. Oh well, time to start another _wonderful_  day. Rolling over, I smacked the top of my alarm, turning it off and knocking it over at the same time. A great yawn escaped my body as I stretched out my still-tired limbs sitting up.

Wait. Where the hell am I? This isn't my room... Why is it so different? Why is my room bigger? Why is my window huge and on my right instead of my left? Leaping out of bed, I jerked my head about frantically, to the left, the right, up, down, left again, right again, where the fuck am I?

My breathing had picked up, I could feel my heart beating quickly, I was in some stranger's house, in someone else's room.

'Hello! Why am I here, what the hell's going on!? I cried.

The bedroom door burst open as I recognised the figure of my older brother, Cloud, enter the room. I felt him sit down on the bed beside my, pulling me into a one-armed hug before I knew it.

'Rox, it's okay, for the love of God it's 6:45 in the morning you have to calm down and stop screaming.'

I obeyed him, even if I was in a foreign yet oh so familiar place, I knew if my brother was here I would be fine... I'd always be fine as long as he was with me.

'Where are we, Cloud...?'

'Huh, you know out of all the reactions I imagined you having, complete amnesia wasn't on the list.' He responded with a chuckle at my question, but why was he chuckling, what the fuck was funny about what I'd just asked? And what the hell did he mean 'amnesia'?

'More internal monologues huh, Rox? Remember the long road trip we took yesterday?'

'Hmph, yeah?' So we're playing guessing games now are we? Typical older brother mind crap.

'Do you remember where that journey ended? You know the place the car stopped, you got out the car and ended up asleep a bed that has your personal bed sheets on?

'Urgh, you could just tell me you know... jerk... Fine, I'll play guess _where_ '. Looking for the positives, at least I got in a good pun. Fuck I'm lame, pay attention, Me!

'That was really lame, Rox.' Cloud chuckled

'I know, anyway, I remember stopping off at a service station outside of Radient Garden so we could eat and get some gas... Then we stopped off at another one for dinner between Radient Garden and Destiny Islands... Then we...' No. No fucking way could what I remembered next have happened.

My heart was going a million miles an hour, I had lost control of my breathing. I was wrong, I had to be fucking wrong.

But Cloud was wearing that smile, that fucking smile that said 'I'm sorry but your worst nightmare has come true, Roxas.'. He was wearing it _again_ , why the fuck was he fucking smiling like that?

'Rox-'

'No! Just tell me why, Cloud. I remember where we are now, Destiny _God-damn-fucking_ Islands. I know. Just tell me why!' Was all I could say, staring at the light grey carpet beneath our feet.

He paused. I turned my head to look at him, but he didn't make eye contact, in fact he was wearing a look I wasn't used to... at all. It was almost like he didn't really know himself, or maybe he didn't fully understand.

'You know nothing's more important to Mom and Dad than You, Me and Marlene, Rox.' Was all he said before standing up, stetching his black sweatpants clad legs and leaving through the bedroom door. 'Oh and your uniform's hanging in your closet!' He called back. Wait, uniform!?

Crossing over to the far corner of my bedroom to the left of my wall-mounted TV (at least I could play video games from my bed later), I opened the closet door, nothing had been hung up or unpacked except a few pairs of black trousers, white shirts and 2 black uniform blazers. Along with each shirt hung a tie that was light blue and white stripped, the stripes cascaded downwards vertically from left to right. Taking out one uniform set, I placed it onto my bed neatly and headed through into the bathroom, taking a few extra minutes to cry, seeing as I would need to be cried-out before setting out on this _adventure_.

 

.o0o.

 

So I had now dressed myself - checkered black and white boxer shorts, black socks and black shoes accompanying the uniform; I had eaten breakfast (at least Mom made pancakes this morning... it's the very least she could do for me after the past two days); I had slung the strap of my brown shoulder bag over my head so it was resting peacefully on my shoulder; I was standing at the front door, ready to open it and head off to school with Cloud giving me a lift on Fenrir. But fuck it, I wasn't fucking going. Absolutely no way in hell.

'What's wrong, Roxas?' My Mom called down the hallway from the kitchen.

'I'm not going this is a joke.' I began. 'Where's the presenter and the camera guy?'

'Roxas...' Came my Brother's voice as he came down the stairs in his black sleeveless overcoat and boots. And people said I was an emo!

'No, _Cloud_ , where is he, no wait, which show is it so I can watch this whole fucking sordid affair later on? Funniest Home Videos? Or, let's see, could it be... I know! I bet it's: Watch Twilight Town's Most Fucked Up Kids Experience Their Worst Fucking Nightmares! The warm tears were free falling down my cheeks again... My Brother and Mother just stared with expressions that told me they saw this coming.

'Or maybe it's: Look! There's Roxas Strife, Why Don't We Put Him Through As Much Shit As Humanly Possible Before He Finally Fucking Can't Take Enough And Really Does Kill Himself!' I was breathing heavily, I knew I was panting and my face was most likely a beautiful shade of ready-to-explode purple. But as soon as I said it... I regretted it.

My mother burst into tears, immediately Cloud had her embraced, the only kind a mother's fully grown son can give their mother, the one which tells her that after years of her supporting him, it's time for the favour to be returned. He shot me a look that also read 'asshole', and I was, I felt like absolute shit.

'I-I didn't mean it, Mom. I swear I didn't.' Was all I could utter.

The next few minutes were long... very, very, very long. Finally though, Mom managed to calm down and stop crying. She let go of Cloud, who stood with his arms crossed, glaring a little at me. I half-trotted down the rest of the hallway from the front door where I'd been stood the whole time and wrapped my arms around her.

'Sorry. I really didn't mean it, I never would. You know I wouldnt't.' I reassured her as I snuggled closely into her shoulder.

Sniffing quietly she pulled back from the embrace.

'I know, Sweetie.' She was smiling again, that was a good thing... right? 'You can make it up to me by just trying to have a good a day as possible, okay?' She was laughing a little now... see everything was fine...

'No problem, I promise I will.' I said fake-enthusiastically. That sounded really sincere though, maybe I was getting better at the whole 'lying' thing.

''I shouldn't lie' is a direct quotation from you yourself last night, Roxas.' Okay maybe not then... but she was laughing and joking like usual. Phew!

Saying goodbye to Mom, Cloud and I left the house, mounting Fenrir speedily and exiting the street, Paradise Boulevard, as fast as humanly yet safely possible. Cloud understood that I did not want to be seen by a certain group of people who lived next door, well only one of them in particular, but if one saw me and recognised me, that certain somebody would surely find out... Got to love that sibling mind connection-thing, even if Marlene abused it to torment me whilst sucking up to Cloud.

10 minutes later, Cloud and I were sat still on Fenrir round the corner from Destiny Islands High School, the school was only a 15 minute walk from our street but morning rush hour traffic was always an issue (Twilight Town's was by far worse though), but this didn't bother me in the slightest considering how uneager I was for this day to unfold.

Sitting back, I allowed the cool, crisp Island breeze wash over me, I would have to get used to the light sea-salt smell, even in the centre of the mainland you could still smell the ocean's scent.

'Rox-'

'I'm not ready yet.' It was rude to cut people off, I had been doing it a lot lately, but hopefully Cloud understood and knew I'd make it up to him later.

'I know, I was just gonna say you can take as much time as you need.'

'Thanks.' I was smiling a grateful, genuine smile? How oddly rare.

'But. If you take too long, when you go to get your classes, since you're the last one everyone will be looking up... staring at you.' They would? Was that true? ''Who's the new kid?' They'll ask.' Shit. 'And then they'll talk, you know what teenagers are like, they gossip and eventually a certain brown-haired kid will be asking questions about the new blond-haired kid, then he'll look for him because you know that's what he'll do, Rox, he'll try and find you, and talk to you because everytime he hears the word 'blond' he thinks 'what if it's Roxas', and then-'

'Okay, okay, I get it, Cloud!' I dismounted Fenrir and stepped onto the pavement. 'But what do I do if he's there and he sees me and he talks to me?' I couldn't help but ask, it was my worst fear, not that he would find me but that he would talk, and I'd listen and I'd forgive him and history happened again, just like it did before. But it couldn't happen again, because this time, it would kill me.

Cloud smirked. Why was he smirking!?

'If that does happen, which it most likely will do, seeing as how you guys are neighbours again as well as students at the same school.' I shuddered at the words, visibly enough for him to notice. 'Then this is what you do: Loud and proud you tell him that you are _Roxas Fucking Strife_.' I smiled a bit hearing the enthusiasm he said my name with, I wish I could say it like that... 'And you tell him that you're back, older, wiser, stronger and better than before.' My heart was swelling hearing myself be described so positively, even if Cloud was just being supportive. 'And finally, you tell him that you aren't going to take any bullshit, not from him, not from anyone. Ever.'

My Brother was panting a little from his dramatic monologue but he was right, he was fucking right. I don't need _Him_ , I don't need anyone but my family to live my life... no matter how far I fall I know they're there for me... even Marlene as much as a 9 ( _almost 10_ her whining voice would say) year old could be.

'And, hey, I'll meet you here at lunch since it's an informal day and there's no lessons or real restrictions, we can go to the beach for lunch and you can tell me all about how shit it was, who's a dick, et cetera, et cetera.' He smiled as he finished speaking.

'That would be... awesome, thanks, Cloud.' I returned his smile.

Fenrir roared to life as Cloud pulled off the side of the road and rejoined the morning traffic around the corner in the other direction from school.

Sighing heavily, I turned the corner and looked straight across the street. There it was, Destiny Islands High School... but in reality, it was just another cluster of buildings, and I had seen plenty of those in Twilight Town. The reason I was standing still, staring at the school, piercing its walls with my gaze, was because somewhere, right now, this very second, a chocolate-haired demon in disguise stalked its hallways... And I knew that eventually, not matter how hard I tried to run from it, I would have to face the demon head on.

 


	3. This Fire Burns

** Roxas' P.O.V. **

I could only watch as Fenrir finally disappeared from my sight completely. As it carried Cloud off into the distance, I felt my stomach drop. I had been nervous earlier, limb trembling, stomach knotting, ready to faint nervous. But now I just felt sick... those pancakes were sweet, especially with the honey and sugar I added to them... fuck I could feel myself gagging.

I turned on my heel and ran down one of the many side streets along the main road. Reaching a dumpster about halfway down I threw up everything: the pancakes, the honey, the sugar, the orange juice that accompanied them, I'm pretty sure I could see my intestines somewhere in there...

Once I finally stopped heaving I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my right sleeve. At least I hadn't gotten any vomit on my new uniform... or around my face from what I could see in the reflection of the surprisingly shiny dumpster side, then again this was Destiny Islands, I wouldn't be surprised if they had people employed solely for the purpose of making dumpsters shiny, in Twilight Town a shiny dumpster was a bullseye for drunken idiots... I can remember the time some idiot with an eyepatch had a competition with his side burn covered friend to see what the 'funkiest' colour they could produce on the side of a dumpster outside a filthy looking bar... purple won the stay for Mr Eyepatch.

So now my mouth tasted like vomit, and no doubt, my breath would be no different... fucking brilliant, how can I fulfil the promise to my Mom of having a great day meeting new people like this? Oh no, that's right, positives, look for the positives... at least my uniform was new, clean and vomit free... and if I don't open my mouth I won't disgust everyone I talk to (I know drinking a soda would fix that my family always interupt my external monlogue rants so I want to enjoy this one before I just go and buy a coke to wash the taste of vomit away).

Yeah, the positives, I still looked like an average teenager. I knew I wasn't good looking, my lack of any relationship at any point ever was proof enough of that; I had never kissed anyone, nor did I ever want to if I'm honest, I only ever so much as hug my family members on very rare occassions, like this morning, or whenever my Mom is upset, I'll make an exception to make her feel better. Why would I want to kiss anyone if I didn't love them? Just for the sake of having a first kiss? No, only slutty guys/girls or dumbasses kiss for the sake of kissing someone, it should be a way of expressing your love and desire for someone, not as a thrill. At least that's what I told myself anyway, maybe I lied to myself... but one thing was for sure, my lack of relationships was partially due to lack of interest from anyone else, but it was mainly because I wasn't attracted to anyone... at all, not girls, and not boys.

I had _technically_ had a first kiss... and many, many others just like it before my family moved away from Destiny Islands. I used to kiss _Him_ , and only _Him_ , everyday, a lot. Of course I was very young, we had no idea what tongue kissing was, so we kissed just light pecks with our lips a lot. Cloud and Le-... one of Cloud's friends would make fun of us, but I loved _Him_ and _He_ loved me, so why wouldn't we kiss all the time, when we asked our parents why people kissed, they said it meant you loved someone if you kissed, and the more you kissed the more you loved the other person. So naturally we ran upstairs and kissed each other for hours, because we loved each other. Or so I thought... I was a fucking fool to ever think that. But I had no idea _He_ could ever hurt me like _He_ did... call me naive I guess.

At least the boy staring back at me in my reflection had decent grades, and before that thing we never discuss happened when I was 13, I was the undefeated Stuggle League Champion of Twilight Town of my age group from age 7. 250-0 was my record. No one could beat me, I wouldn't... no, I couldn't let them beat me, so they didn't. But my Struggle League days were over, that was my choice, even if at any point I could do it all again.

My internal monologue had taken me into a nearby newspaper shote where I purchased a can of _Coke_ and greedily drank it to dispel the previous taste occupying my mouth. I was still nervous though, I could feel it... I probably wouldn't vomit again (well that depended on who I ran into I suppose...) but I wasn't thinking soley of that _bastard_ , in fact _He_ was momentarily at the back of my mind, no it had suddenly dawned on me that this was a new school. I wasn't at Twilight High with my old friends, I was at a new school, with no friends... and kind of a little bit lost already.

I had reached the large buildings of the school and as I walked through the large wrought iron gates that accompanied red brick walls all along the outskirts of the grounds, I realised this school was the exact image of one of those college campii from the movies. I was walking up the pebbled main walkway, my feet crunching on the small grey and beige pebbles towards the centre of a massive quad; more pebble walkways spread spiralled out from the main path I walked on, all leading to various buildings that were actually signposted (how big was this school!?).

In the very centre of the campus was a huge tent-like stucture, possibly the biggest tent-thing I had ever seen, inside were desks with what looked like hundreds of kids queueing, that would explain why the tent had no walls. It was obvious the tent roof was there for the people sitting at the desks, it was still early morning and the bright blue sky of Destiny Islands was in its glory, complete with a burning sun for those subjetted to it for long - midday would be killer.

Now, surely I would have bumped into someone by now out of all these kids on my way over to the desks, someone I could meet or talk to... Well, no, because this was my 2nd year, everyone in my year had their own friendship groups already or if they didn't they were a loner, like me at this moment in time, why would they randomly come over to me and start talking? The answer is that they wouldn't, I wanted to be alone, I didn't want new 'friends', because they weren't actualy friends, no one in Destiny Islands was my friend, and they never would be. Did I mention I fucking hate this place?

I was manuvering through the crowd well, not smiling, not making eye contact with anyone, yet I was on high alert for one thing: light chocolate coloured pointy hair. I was certain I could spot it a mile away, I could when I was much younger, I'm sure I could now.

Being quite short it was hard to see where I was meant to be going, but luckily I spotted a massive sign that read: SECOND YEARS. I'm glad they cater to the vertically challenged here, Twilight Town High was a free for all, with the tallest winning when it came to things like this... good this Axel was built to find things from a distance at his height.

Fuck. Axel. I really fucking missed him right now. I didn't want to admit I was dependant on someone, I hated the idea, but dammit that red-haired psycho got me through the worst years of my life-

I stopped myself then and there, because I would cry, and I would draw attention. The very idea of the chocolate-haired demon spotting me because I was blubbering made my skin crawl. I had to move on and look forward anyway, if I didn't and _He_ found me I would be weak, just like last time, I would listen to _Him_ , I would believe the words, the lies, the bullshit, and then I would be left alone... a damaged toy thrown in the garbage.

Fuck it. No tears escaping from my eyes, I moved forwards through the line of students, indifferent to everyone and everything, focused only on obtaining my schedule and waiting for Cloud to meet me at lunch. Yeah... meet Cloud then wait for school to finish, and already that was one day over with... I could do this, I could, I knew I could. I just had to stay positive.

_Think of the ice spells you can learn tonight!_

Now that thought was appealing, new magic on my favourite MMO? Hell yes. See...positives...

 

.o0o.

 

_'Happy anniversary, Aeris.'_

_'Oh, Zack! It's... it's beautiful where on earth did you find sapphires like that?'_

_'Come on, Hun, it's rude to ask that you know.' Zach chuckled in reply to his wife's astonishment._

_'I love you so much, Zack.' Aeris whispered as she leaned up towards her husband, encricling her arms around his neck and kissing his lips lovingly._

_'Mommy, how come you and Daddy kiss?'_

_The moment was cut short by the intrusion of a 5 year old brown-haired boy with magnificent blue eyes, ones that sparkled with electricity. The boy of course was accompanied by his favourite thing/toy/person in the whole world, a blond boy with similar spikes to their son. The two boys were holding hands as they always did. Roxas, Sora's 'bestest most favouritest' friend in the whole world also looked up at the two adults, obviously wanting to know the same thing as his partner in crime._

_'Well, Sora, Me and your Dad love each other, so we kiss to express that.' Aeris couldn't help but giggle slightly, conscious that Zack was thinking inappropriate thoughts at her choice of wording. But he would never voice them and risk an early birds-and-bees conversation with two 5 year olds-_

_'But when your older you can do more than kissing-' Aeris smacked her husband's arm as he almost proved her earlier thought wrong..._

_'Okay, okay! I'll leave this one to you, Dear!' Zack stuttered, holding his hands up in a peace gesture before leaving the kitchen chuckling and turning on the TV. Roxas and Sora were exchanging puzzled looks, it was clearly time to fix the situation before it went any further, 5 year olds questioned everything..._

_'Boys, he was joking, we kiss each other because we love each other and we want to show each other that.' Aeris tried to convince them._

_'Okay, so you kiss cus you love each other, just like hugging, right?' Sora's innocent voice returned._

_Aeris nodded. Noticing how Roxas had leant his head on Sora's right shoulder, moving closer to him to receive a one armed cuddle and kiss to the forehead. It made her heart soar to see someone care so much about her own son, having Roxas and Sora act as close as they did told her that when her son grew up, he'd be well looked after. Even if something happened (God forbid), then Roxas would always be there for Sora, they looked after each other when the other had a cold, waiting on the other's needs hand and foot despite being so young, and no matter what the situation was, Roxas was there for Sora just as much as Sora was for Roxas. Seeing their child looked after and happy was a mother's dream, and it came true everytime she saw the two boys in front of her together._

_Sora's eyes still had that gleam in them that said he was curious about something else though._

_'Go on, my angel, I know you still have something to ask.' Aeris giggled as her son's expression switched from inquistive to excited, clearly this next question was the most important thing (except Roxas) to Sora right now._

_'If you kiss more often, does that mean you love each other more?' Sora asked happily whilst reaching his left hand over to play with Roxas' spikes, earning a small giggle from the blond, who reacted by moving closer to his brunet friend, wrapping his arms around Sora's torse in a loving embrace._

_'Hmmm, I suppose that's true, yes. But what made you ask tha-'_

_Before Aeris could finish Sora and Roxas had vanished from the room, ran up the stairs and shut the door of Sora's bedroom at the speed of light._

_Why? Well because the boys loved each other more than anything, they thought their love was stronger than anyone else's, and as such, they needed to kiss more than anyone else. Sora's Mom, the wisest person the boys knew had confirmed this theory, that kissing more meant you loved the other person more, so naturally the boys ran upstairs to kiss each other for hours and made it a part of their daily routine from then on. Obviously, being 5, kissing meant a peck on the lips, it wasn't perverted or weird, it was pure innocent actions between two children who wanted to show the other just how much love they possessed for them._

_If only Roxas had never moved, if only he had said what was wrong, if only- Sora! Sora! Sora! Hello! Earth to Sora!_

.o0o.

 

** Sora's P.O.V. **

'What, Riku!?' I couldn't help but shout rather loudly at my bestfriend, Riku Hosakawa, for interupting my Roxas-related daydream. I shouted at anyone who forced me to end those and face the reality that Roxas may as well have been a million miles away.

'Sorry. I was just gonna tell you that your kind of at the front of the line, dude.' Riku returned with a shit-eating grin.

'Oh!' I jumped around and realised I was holding up the entire queue.

'Hehe, my bad...' I apologised whilst scratching the back of my head in embarrassment, one of my trademark body language gestures apparently.

Moving forward I greeted the 4th year prefect helping to distribute the class schedules. 'Hey, Snow!' This particular prefect had long blond hair hidden beneath a black beanie, his blond stubble added to his unique look.

'Sora! You better have been training over summer, we need 1st place this year.' Snow returned, offering a generous smile as he greeted the younger Struggler. Snow was a member of the 4th year Struggle team that represented the school, and he was, to say the least, a hard-ass during training sessions.

'Don't worry about it, Snow! I can handle it!' Was my response in my usual chipper voice.

'Team tryouts are this afternoon and the tournament is this evening, it's an open challenge tournament, parents are gonna be there, anybody from your year could enter and make an upset if you haven't been training, Lazy'. Snow half-joked, half-deadpanned.

'You know I don't lose, Snow. Never have, never will...'

'You're 250-0, Sora, don't get big headed. You know there was someone with that exact same number record and he just disappeared from the sport altogether years ago. Shame you guys never fought each other.'

'Wow! So my record is tied with someone else's, huh? He must have been awesome, I wish I could have fought him!'

'Yeah his name was like... umm... Saxor... or was it...' I didn't hear the rest of Snow's ramblings as I waved him off. I wish I could have fought that other 250-0 guy, man that would be a dream match! I would have beaten him of course, not that I'm arrogant, it's just that since I made that promise all those years ago my body and my mind just work in perfect harmony, they don't allow me to lose, plain and simple. But I wouldn't think of the memory that came with that promise, it stil broke my heart to this very day, tears and everything...

Although I hated getting up earlier than I needed to for school (which was really early anyway!) I was kind of glad my Mom all but threw me out the front door, at least I wouldn't have to wait in many lines since me and Riku had gotten our class schedules. I did wonder why she sent me off so early, but Moms were weird, it just came with the territiory. Maybe she just wanted me to get a head start today as a way of encouraging me to get a head start academically this year, I mean Leon even gave me a lift to school in his car, so maybe they were just being really supportive. I was glad I had such a kind family, I loved them a lot, they really got me through everything.

I walked over to one of the trees in the gigantic school quad, a nice chery blossom that had draped its pink petals all across the lawn. Leaning against the trunk I let out a sigh and allowed my head to fall back and rest against the smooth bark too. Whilst waiting for Riku the usual start of year routine occurred.

Random students from all years would wave at me, call my name, come up and ask how my holiday was. The same usual stuff.

'Sora! You enjoy sleeping in all day?'

'Hehe, you know me...' I'd reply.

'Yo! Sora!'

'Sora, over here, hey!'

'Still Struggling, Sora? Oh man we gotta practise together some time!'

'You need a wingman at any of those Struggle team parties, Sora?' One guy even asked, nudging my side with his elbow. Of course I laughed it off and said I'd let him know. Fucking creep. I never went to any of those parties, anyone who _really_ knew me knew that.

Riku thankfully jogged over to me, receiving the same barrage of fake friendships as me.

'Vultures still trying to make it with the cool kids, huh?' Riku whispered to me as he leaned against the bark on my right.

'They all pretend that they know me, Riku... I hate it.'

'You were team captain of the Struggle team, Sora, fake friends and girls who aren't interested in you but pretend to be are everywhere.'

'I know, Riku, I know when one of them is near me, I can feel the falseness...' I couldn't help but let my fake smile falter, I really did hate how false people could be, here I was surrounded by a sea of people, all wanting to be close to me, but every single one of them was full of shit, none of them liked me, none of them loved me. I was a terrible friend, the only person who ever really cared for me outside of my family had been driven off years ago, and for as long as I lived I would never fill that void, it was a void that threatened to swallow me up and destroy me every day of my life.

Yet here was Riku, standing by my side as always, pushing back that void within me with a small but powerful force. He knew he wasn't a replacement for what I had lost, and he never tried. Maybe that's why I liked having him as a friend, because he didn't try to be one, he just was one... if that made any sense... it did to me, and these were my thoughts so fuck it, it made sense.

Riku himself was a head taller than me with straightened silver hair flowing down to his shoulder blades. His emerald-green eyes reflected his inner strength and maturity whilst his high cheekbones indicated sophistication, accompanying all of these were his very firmly toned muscles. I often thought we looked kind of funny as bestfriends when I caught our reflection together, he was tall, handsome and muscular, yet I was short, average looking and had a little bit of baby fat as well as chubby cheeks. Why he would choose to hang out with me was beyong my comprehension.

'Anyway I thought I was your wingman!' Riku chuckled at me.

'Riku, you know I have no interest in dating... or in girls... or in boys... or in anyone.' It was true, I wasn't attracted to _anyone_ , I wanted someone who could really love me for who I was, not my average looks (as if anyone would for those anyway), not my team captain status from the previous year. I wanted someone who would take care of me when I needed them, who I could just sit in a comfortable silence with and enjoy their presence, but overall I wanted someone who could see the real me... So no, I had never had a relationship, never had a first kiss (although technically when I was with Roxas... no! Sad memories, stop thinking about those!) and I had never hugged anyone other than my family, Riku or Kairi.

'Heh, I know, Sora, and you know I'm always here to fend off those fake bitches looking to date someone for their sport-team status.' He replied ruffling my pointy hair.

I just pouted in return like I did to everyone who ruffled my hair, batting his hands away at the same time. 'Thanks.'

He just smiled and nodded in return. That was all I needed to know he was there for me.

'Guuuuys! Heeeey!' Riku and I both snapped our heads to the left at the sound of a familiar high pitched feminine voice.

Sprinting across the quad from the line we previously occupied was Kairi Hikari.

A large smile graced her smooth face as she neared us. As she reached the fallen petals though she suddenly slipped on a bunch of them and came flying towards us.

Luckily, Riku easily caught her in his arms, she jumped up giving him a tight embrace.

'You okay, Babe?' Riku asked brushing the fallen strands of her hair back into place as she looked up at him blushing.

'Yeah, thanks for catching me, Riku...' Kairi's voice became a whisper as she lifted tilted her chin up towards Riku and captured his lips with her own.

I would have called it sweet, being a believer in true love and all, but things became very tongue-involved very quickly, and love met lust as a heated make out session quickly began unfolding with Riku being pressed lightly into the trunk of the tree.

Rolling my eyes I pushed off from the tree and began walking away from my two bestfriends, Kairi, my other bestfriend, had red hair, perfectly smooth skin and was the same height as me; her hair fell to just above her shoulder with delicate pink highlights being the tips of each strand of hair. She wore the standard girls uniform, a white shirt, a black blazer jacket, a tie with the same colours as the boys' one and a black and light blue plaid skirt.

Riku and Kairi had been boyfriend and girlfriend since age 7 when Kairi first moved to Destiny Islands with her family from Radient Garden, it was love at first sight for the two of them, and honestly, I couldn't be happier for them, I just wish I could find that. I didn't want loads of money, I didn't want to be famous, there was only one thing I wanted in life, one person: Roxas Strife.

Some people had absurd dreams like being a rockstar or a billionaire, and for such large dreams, it seemed fair that they didn't come true, because they were just too surreal. Mine however, was small, I wasn't greedy, and to be honest I didn't need to be, all I wanted, all I wished for was to be reunited with Roxas. My wish was to have Roxas by my side once more... and for eternity. Was that such a massive thing to ask for? I didn't think so, and that's why I wished to the so called 'Magical Sky' of Destiny Islands at nighttime, because I always hoped it could come true, and according to legend, it would come true, I just had to be patient, and _that_ is what got me up in the morning, the thought that maybe that was the day I would see him again.

Leaving my only two real friends behind on the quad, I slowly walked past more false friends, all of whom greeted me and I greeted back, making my way towards the clubs and societies stalls set up around the interior classrooms of the school.

Today was the day for sign ups, so I walked through the main entrance of the Physics building in the bottom right corner of the quad and became part of the one-way system designed to minimise shoving and pushing. I was only there to sign up for the Struggle tournament later this evening, so after writing my name down at the apporiate sign up stall and receiving a wave from my coach Auron, which I returned, I allowed myself to get lost in my own thoughts, completely spacing out everything that passed me by and offering my authomatic happy responses to people once in a while with that fake smile plastered on my face the whole time. To everyone else I was _Sora, happiest kid in the world, he can't stop smiling!_ Riku, Kairi and my familly knew me as _Sora, the kid who smiles all the time, because if he stops, he'll never start again_ , that was the difference between the people I pretended to like and the people I actually liked, the ones I liked knew me.

 

.o0o.

 

** Roxas' P.O.V.: **

'Name?'

'Strife.' I answered the question of the rude, bored-looking older student as he handed me my schedule. Looking away from his black beanie encased blond hair I noticed he had the official Struggle League crest embroided onto his school blazer with the name 'Snow' beneath it, clearly this guy was on the school Struggle team and was a 4th year finalist.

'Strife? Do you know anyone called Cloud Strife?' The other blond seemed suddenly more interested... I could see where this was going...

'He's my brother.' Was all I replied.

Snow's jaw dropped.

'YOUR BROTHER!? You mean Cloud Strife is back in Destiny Islands? Oh man, could you get me an authograph? Please?'

'Umm yeah, sure I'll get one for you-'

'Where is Cloud, is he here? Could I meet him? It's not everyday a regional champion moves to Destiny Islands! Is he competing this season in the Pro League? Has he had another showdown with Sephiroth?'

'Umm I'll let you know.' Was all I responded before turning on my heel to leave.

'Wait, what's your name, Kid?'

'It's Roxas.'

'Say hi to your bro for me okay, say Snow's his biggest fan... or something cool... I dunno just let him know who I am!'

'Sure, Snow.' I replied before continuing on my escape.

Had I been more observant as I left, I would have noticed Snow's pupils dilate to the size of saucers. Over my shoulder Snow's jaw had hit the floor for a second time as he realised that not only had the national phenomen Cloud Strife returned to Destiny Islands, but his younger brother, who held a streak of 250-0 was here, in the flesh, attending the school. I hadn't bothered to check if he recognised my name because I had no interest in fame, that was never why I Struggled in the first place, so the thought never even occurred to me.

I followed the trail of other students across the quad from the centre tent to the bottom right of the school site to enter a large, modern looking building. All around the sides of the quad where the pebble walkways met the paved entrance ways of buildings was one large colonnade, serving as a dry walkway on those rare rainy days. The colonnade columns appeared to be made from marble, but at closer inspection it was obvious they were faux stone designed to look like marble (I had inherited my Dad's hawk eye when it came to inspecting things for their real value... I could do it for inanimate objects at least, I was a real sucker when it came to people, _He_ proved that).

Entering throught the automatic glass doors of the building, it was clear this was a science department of some kind, and judging by the standard posters of Isaac Newton and satellites this was one was physics. I liked Physics, the calculations and problems were kind of fun and it wasn't a subject where you had to talk to people. Demyx had always been my lab partner for physics and that kid could talk for 50 people easily so I never had to say a word, hopefully the teacher would just let me work on my own this year, I would much prefer it that way now that Demyx couldn't talk incessantly for me.

After the front door the trail of students had become one long queue. Past the entrance foyer with the awards and posters covering the display cases as well as many large bronze, silver and golden trophies (there were a few medals too), I came to a crossroads: to the right were was a corridor with closed doors leading into varying classrooms, clearly they weren't in use; in fron of me past some fire doors was a large stairway leading to the 2nd story, however there was a rope across the stairs meaning that that path was also out of use, but I could tell by the signs near the stairs there were teaching labs upstairs so I would probably get to look around up there at some point; to my right I could see the continued trail of students becoming thicker as they picked up pieces of paper from several laid out tables and proceeded further down said corridor.

Picking up my own set of papers I knew that these were maps indicating which society stall was where throughout the school. Two things struck me: one, there were a shit load of clubs/societies/groups, whatever you called them, it really didn't matter what you called them, all that mattered was that there were apporximately 546,872 clubs (an exaggeration I know but I didn't intend to speak to anyone so I had to joke with my own subconscious... yeah I was a little bit crazy but everyone talsk to themselves when they're alone... right?); secondly, this school was fucking huge. Like literally fucking huge, what looked like 10 Struggle arenas at least, countless buildings all centred around the quad, one for each department, some were 2nd story only, some were ground floor only, and they were all interlinked by internal corridors. This place was a maze, oh man. Still, at this rate there was no way in hell I would bump into a certain brown-haired demon anytime soon, so that was a relief.

Looking up from my map I proceeded down the corridor, following the countless students in front of me. All I had to do was wait two and a half hours and it would be lunchtime and I could escape for a while with Cloud... I could do this...

 

.o0o.

 

It was 11:45am, and after wandering between the Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, English and History departments I had concluded that this place was indeed both huge and a maze. I hadn't joined any societies, because fuck them I didn't want to. I had just made my way through the History department into the Main Hall, which I assumed was where school assemblies took place judging from the rows of benches; the Main Hall was spectacular, murals and _real_ marble pillars adorned the walls and walkways inside the Hall respectively with the wooden benches facing towards the right side of the school where a stage stood, a microphone being all that stood upon it. The Hall was supposedly the heart and sole of the school and was only remaining original part of it, and its olden style murals, pillars and paintings as well as wooden panels truly gave off that impression. A single doorway in the centre of the Hall led to a small corridor where the Headmaster's office was according to a plaque, his office was however on the 2nd floor, made clear because he had a balcony overlooking the entire Hall from his office.

I exited through the large double doors on the opposite side of the Headmaster's office into the foyer of the school where the secretaries' offices were. I went through another set into the open air. Down the front entrance steps was my next movement, and once again I was back in the quad, this time on the other side of the massive tent, seemingly, I had explored the entire right side of the school (the interior at least)... did I mention this place was huge?

Cloud had sent me a text saying he was waiting exactly where he had dropped me off this morning, right next to 'Puke-Dumpster' as I had named it... my first Destiny Islands land mark since I moved back, how glorious. Well... technically second, the house next door was of course the first, known as 'the house where the bastard lives'.

Walking back across the main pebble pathway to the main gate I felt an odd sensation, something was telling me to look up. Now.

So I did. But what was I looking fo-

Fuck.

Of course there were students all around me entering and leaving the front gate, but literally 50 feet in front of me, heading straight in my direction was a boy, exactly my height, I could tell from how close we were. He had chocolate brown, spikey hair with very feint cinnamon highlights on the tips of his points (a result of the Destiny Islands sun most likely). Of course he was wearing the same uniform as me so that much didn't shock me, but his lips were a delicious shade of pink and his slightly chubby cheeks added to his overall perfect appearance; his lean body was trudging towards me with his hands shoved in his trouser pockets and his eyes downcast, searching the ground for nothing in particular.

I couldn't see his eyes but I knew they were a shockingly bright blue that mirrored a gorgeous summer's day sky. My heart clenched and began beating rapidly, all the adrenaline in my body had surged to my brain and I was slightly dizzy with the effect. After all these years he still looked beautiful and perfect in my eyes... just what I thought when we were younger.

'Sora! How's it going, Bud?' Someone had called his name, and those eyes looked up radiating happiness.

'Hey, I'm great, thanks. How are you?' The happy boy returned.

'Awesome, man, can't wait to see you win the Struggle tournament tonight!'

'Hehe, thanks.' The brown-haired boy returned, ending the conversation with that bright smile on his face... that _fake_ bright smile on his face.

I smirked to myself, I knew just by looking at him that he wasn't the happy boy everyone seemed to think he was, I could sense it, he was miserable on the inside and he had every single fucker at this school fooled.

_Yeah because he's a fucking liar and a bastard._

It was true, he really was. I couldn't help but smile as I watched the sight in front of me... yet a part of me, deep down, felt... sad? Could he still affect me even after all of this time, after all he did to me? No, I was feeling sad because I was imagining my 6 year old bestfriend, the one who I would have kissed and cuddled until he felt better. No, I didn't feel sad for this version of him, the one in the present, I was happy to see him upset/down-trodden/whatever the hell he was: I didn't really care, all I cared about was that right now, he was unhappy for some reason.

50 feet.

He would look up and see me anytime now.

40 feet.

I hope his fucking head explodes when he does.

30 feet.

Anytime now you bastard.

20 feet.

Come on, look up!

10 feet.

He looked up, but instead of seeing me and feinting or his eyes popping from his skull, he just walked straight past me, that same ghostly, fake smiling expression on his face, the one he had before that other kid greeted him.

What the actual fuck? After everything am I not worthy of being recognised by the great Sora fucking Leonhart?

No, no, no. That was all fucking wrong, he should have feinted, or exploded, or whatever, at least a speechless reaction would have been nice!

But no, nothing? Fuck him, Fuck that fucking bastard, I fucking hate him, he doesn't even recognise me? Fuck that absolute bastard!

 

.o0o.

 

I had turned to watch him slink away for what seemed like forever, waiting for him to turn around and for his jaw to drop, but no... nothing.

That was the last reaction I had imagined. I had imagined him shouting at me, crying, swearing, even throwing a punch! But I had never expected him not to recognise me... I was speechless. Had I kept looking for a few more seconds though, I might have noticed the brown-haired boy stop and turn to look back at me before he shook his head, rubbed his eyes and continued his lonely trek to no where in particular... but I didn't.

In a daze I wandered through the front gate of the school and back round the corner to meet Cloud, who was sat on Fenrir waiting for me patiently.

'Hey, Rox! How was it?' He asked me at first.

'...' I couldn't speak.

'You look like you've seen a gho-' He froze.

I looked up at him, tears breaking out of the corners of my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.

'Fuck.' In an instant, he had pulled me onto Fenrir and folded my arms around his stomach so I could hold on while we rode.

I just clung to him until we had left the main town of Destiny Islands and had pulled up at a parking lot near a sandy beach. I usually took in my surroundings and loved to observe scenary when I rode on Fenrir, but time had stopped for me until I felt Cloud pick me off Fenrir and set me down standing on the parking lot tarmac.

He placed his left arm around me and led me to a quiet spot of grass overlooking the beach carrying a lunch box in his right hand.

By now I had half snapped out of my time lapse and went about eating the chicken and bacon sandwiches he produced from the box with bottled water accompanying them. By the time we finished eating I had calmed down and finally let myself take in the beautiful scenary.

Before us lay the pure white sands of a Destiny Islands beach, a few people were picnicing on the sand itself whilst we had sat on the grass verge closer to the parking lot. Ahead of the sand lay the deep blue ocean that sparkled with life, if I had been in a better mood I would have dived in there without a second thought, it just looked so mysterious and magical as the waves twinkled and the sun's rays bounced off its surface giving it a perfect glossy finish.

'So what happened, Rox.' Cloud finally asked.

'It's a nice school, really big and beautiful. There are so many departments in there, Cloud, I swear I got lost in the first few minutes, even with a map!' I tried to joke with my brother.

'Well, that's awesome I guess.' Cloud returned with a smile.

'Yeah I didn't sign up for any clubs though, none really suited me...'

'No matter what Mom says not every club and extra homework has to be taken up you know.' Cloud continued light heartedly.

'Haha, yeah I know.'

Silence overcame us, I knew what Cloud wanted to know... But thinking about it made the tears return...

'And-' My voice cracked as I choked on nothing. 'I saw _Him_.' I spat angrily, lowering my eyes to the floor.

'So what happened?' Cloud pushed me to continue.

' _He_ -Didn't-Even-Fucking-Recognise-Me.' I seethed.

'...' Speechless... just like I was.

'Did you talk to _Him_? Make eye contact? Did _He_ talk to you?'

'No... _He_ just walked straight past me, Cloud. _He_ kind of a had a glazed over look in _His_ eyes... but I recognised _Him_ , am I not worthy of being recognised, Cloud?' I choked out the last part, genuinely asking him this, because right now I felt worthless, the only person I wanted to notice me, had walked straight past me.

'I thought you wanted _Him_ to not recognise you?'

'Well yeah, but _He_ saw me so _He_ should have!' I practically yelled.

'Hmm...'

'Sorry I shouldn't have shouted, but it's what _He_ does to me...'

'No, I know, Rox, I wasn't upset about that, I was just thinking... Do you want _His_ attention?'

Did I want _His_ attention? That was a good question... Did I want _Him_ to know I was here? Did I want _Him_ to not know I was here? Either way, I knew _He_ would eventually find out, we were neighbours after all...

'I guess _He's_ gonna find out one way or another, why?'

'Well, I know from Leon that Sora was captain of the 1st year Struggle team last year.'

I hated hearing that name so much.

'You're gonna have to get used to that, Rox, we live next door to the entire Leonhart family now, that name is household I'm afraid.

'I'll try... but anyway what does _His_ sporting achievements have to do with me?'

Cloud's lips peaked into a smile.

'What if I told you that you could both get his attention and destroy _Him_ at the same time?'

THAT had my attention.

'Go on.'

'The Struggle team is decided on the first day of the year, today to be exact, and anyone can enter the tryouts for their year's team by going to the tryouts, doing well at those and being entered into the tournament tonight, you know the one where parents and teachers and everyone attends.'

'Okay...'

'Now, Leon tells me that Sora (I recoiled slightly) has never lost a single match, oddly enough, he has the exact same record as you, 250-0.'

I could see where he was going with this... and I liked I already liked it.

'Leon also tells me that Sora can barely do a forward roll outside of matches, yet somehow the clumsy kid is agile enough inside of matches to outmanuever everyone. Apparently, Sora has some secret behind this that he said he would rather die before he told to anyone.'

So did I... because it was the same secret. Or at least it used to be. _He_ probably had a different reason for it now, I would bet money he had forgotten our secret and replaced it. Just like _He_ did with me.

'Weird how similar this sounds to you, huh, Rox?' Cloud smirked at me. 'Anyway, you sign up for these tryouts this afternoon, you go to them, you destroy everyone as always, I mean, you've never even lost a round nevermind a match!'

It was true, standard Struggle matches had 3 round with best-of-3 rules and each round lasted 2 minutes. To win a round, you had to score 7 points on your opponent or have the most points when time ran out, unless it was the final round in which case a 1 minute overtime occurred. I wouldn't know anything about overtime though as I had never been in a final round, I had always won the first 2, making my round record 500-0 and my match record 250-0. The same as _His_ no doubt.

'Neither has Sora, so you guys are both 500-0 round-wise (I knew it!). Anyway, once you reach the tournament stage you beat everyone like usual, there's a set up of 4 matches at once in the tournament phase according to Leon so you guys being Strife and Leonhart won't be together until the final 16 phase. At that point each of the 16 are on the team, but you then battle for team rankings with the winner being captain.'

I just listened to his instructions, I knew I wanted to do this, because I knew if I could do what Cloud was planning, in theory, it would truly destroy _Him_.

'So you annihilate those poor 3 people who get in your way until you're in the final... against Sora.'

He had my undivided attention.

'Since you 16 will definitely be on the team, the usual happens with entrances, just like how it was in Twilight Town, you can pick your favourite song to enter the arena with and you can wear whatever costume you want. So for the 16 phase, you wear your old outfit, an ankle-length black combat cloak and hood.'

'I have grown since I was 13 you know, Cloud.'

'Umm no you haven't, Shorty!' He replied, ruffling my spikes, I really hated it when people did that, so I growled in response.

'Mom had a new one made for you, she just used your school clothes measurements so it should fit perfectly.'

'You guys planned for this?'

'Roxas, we have a plan for everything.' He winked as he spoke. I felt reassured but also kind of nervous by this, what the hell else had they planned regarding me and _Him_? Why were they planning in regards to us at all? Urgh I didn't even care, I just wanted to focus on our plan to ruin _Him_.

'Okay... kinda weird but whatever (he chuckled at me). So I'll have my hood up to enter the final 16 and I can fight with it up, do I take the hood off when I reach the final? What if one of us doesn't make it to the final?'

'Somehow I don't see either of you losing before the final.' Was his laid back response. To be honest, I agreed with him on that one.

'When you reach the final and your music stops playing, you have to duel bow to one another, then as the coach announces your win records  you get ready... the second he announces your name you pull back your hood because the bell will ring for the match to begin. I would bet money Sora will freeze, he won't be able to fight, and you take that opportunity to beat him. If you do that, he loses his record and that secret promise of his will be destroyed. _And_ if what Leon says is true, _that_ will destroy him as well.'

I was beaming, I was fucking beaming and grinning and smiling and every possible happy emotion was pouring through me, I would see it now: the tears, the pain, the anguish, the suffering, _He_ would feel it at long last!

Much, much happier, Cloud and I packed up our lunch and hopped on Fenrir, allowing the wind to rush through my spikes as I joyfully rode throught the town streets with Cloud, smiling all the way.

As we pulled up near 'Puke-Dumpster', I hoped off Fenrir and thanked Cloud for the lunch, but most importantly, the plan. He responded by saying I was welcome and ruffling my hair which I growled at again, only earning another chuckle from Cloud. God I hated it when people touched my hair.

'Oh Cloud, some guy called Snow says 'Hi', he's a big fan.

'Tell him to fuck off.' Cloud and I burst into laughter, we both hated suck ups with a passion.

'Oh, which song should I enter with?'

He pondered that question for a moment.

'Any song you like until the final, during the final we need to fuck with Sora as much as possible so use a song called _This Fire Burns_ by Killswitch Engage.'

'Okay, but how will that fuck with him?'

'It's his favourite song according to Leon, and he uses it as his entrance music as well. So his will stop playing, and then suddenly it starts again, he has no idea what's going on and then all of a sudden he sees you. It'll fuck him up badly, Rox.'

I smiled. 'Good.'

After Cloud had taken off on Fenrir again I walked back towards school ready to explore the left side of the school, and most importantly, put our plan into action. One thing did amuse me though: _This Fire Burns_ was my favourite song as well.

Look out, _Sora Leonhart_ , here comes _Roxas fucking Strife_!


	4. Going Under

** Sora's P.O.V.: **

It was lunchtime at school, still on my first day of 2nd year and already I was completely losing my shit. About 15 minutes ago I had been walking back into school through the front gates, since I had slipped out at about 10am to go for a walk on the beach so I could daydream a bit more without any interuptions; I loved to sleep, daydream, space out, whatever you called it, I did it, because when I wasn't fully conscious, if I imagined hard enough, I could be with Roxas.

Anyway, I was entering the school gates again, still in a trance when some guy I didn't know tried to act like my bestfriend, saying he couldn't wait to see my win the Struggle tournament. But that wasn't what was important. What was important was that a few seconds later I felt something... something I hadn't felt in a long time... I was kind of looking at the ground so it wasn't like I was being observant, but my heart was beating ridiculously fast and something in my mind was going crazy, screaming at me to open my eyes. So I stopped, and I turned around.

My vision focused on another student about 100 feet behind me heading towards the front gates. I was looking at him from a distance and the sun was in my eyes, but I could make out his hair... his spiky, golden hair... was I still dreaming? Was that who I thought it was?

But then I realised how absurd I was being, why would Roxas be in Destiny Islands at all, nevermind suddenly a student at the same school as me? He had made it clear he never wanted to see me or speak to me again. So I concluded I was seeing things... but something just felt wrong with that conclusion, so after shaking my head and turning on my heel I had literally sprinted to find Riku and Kairi at one of the lunch benches inside the Cafeteria.

The Cafeteria was located on the left side of the school, in the top left corner of the cluster of buildings that made up the main school complex, as one entered from the internal corridor along the Geography department, which was adjacent to it by the right hand wall, the food serving stations were to the left all along that wall with the kitchen and loading areas behind it. But for once food wasn't on my mind. I sprinted off to the bottom left corner of the room where our usual table was located.

Sure enough I had found Riku and Kairi cuddling up with one another. Upon seeing me running across the room (and nearly crashing into several people on the way, all of whom laughed it off because they my _friends_ of course) they reluctantly separated into two different people, ready to deal with my apparently obvious crisis.

'Sora, what's-'

'Roxas!' I panted back at Riku as he began questioning me. I was out of breath, red in the face and sweating. But this was about Roxas, I couldn't have cared less how I looked.

'No, Sora, he's Riku.' Kairi returned in a joking yet patronising voice.

'Not. Hff. What. Hff. I. Hff. Meant. Hff. God I was out of breath, this school is too big sometimes...

'Have some of my water, Dude, before you pass out.' Riku chuckled at me. He regretted it immediately as I downed his bottle of water, sticking my tongue out at him after thanking him.

'Seriously, guys, Roxas! He's here! I just saw him at the front gates, he's wearing our uniform! Is he back? Has he moved back to Destiny Islands? Oh man, we need to go find him, come on! I stood up with a toothy grin, I couldn't help it, Roxas was here, I should have chased that guy earlier, it had to have been him... that feeling I had...

Riku and Kairi exchanged looks with each other... worried looks... why were they worried?

'Sora...' Riku started trying to grab my hands across the table.

I danced out his way. 'Riku, we. Have. To. Find. Him! Come one!' I couldn't stop beaming, I hadn't been this happy in ages!

'Sora!' Riku caught my hands and held onto them. I stopped dancing around. 'I want you to think about what you've just said.'

My smile faltered a bit. What did he mean?

_Roxas Strife, the boy you dream about every night and every day has suddenly just turned up at your school for the new year. After years of ignoring you he's come back to find. All you have to do is run off out the school gates and find him somewhere in Destiny Islands, he's dying to see you, after years of ignoring you and blocking you out of his life..._

Oh...

I was being ridiculous, what the hell was I thinking...? My smile dropped back into its usual ghostly one, the one where it looked like I was smiling but in reality wasn't...

'Sorry, Man, but he isn't here...' Riku pulled me into a soft, comforting embrace, the tips of my spikes just prodding his chin as I wrapped my arms around the middle of his back.

'Riku, I think I'm going nuts...' was all I could huff out before I was too wracked with restraining my sobs to stand anymore.

Riku sat me down on the opposite side of the table from Kairi as he returned to her side, sliding an arm around her waist.

'I don't think you're going nuts, Sora...' Kairi offered as she reached over and patted my shoulder comfortingly, I just continued to suppress any tears whilst sniffing a bit. 'We know how much you miss him, just try not to think about it for now and maybe tomorrow we could all go and ask your Mom to leave another message with Roxas' Mom, maybe he'll call you!' She smiled at me, her dark blue eyes offering sympathy and reassurance that one day such a plan would work. But what's so special about this time? Why not the hundreds and hundreds of other times?

At least the two of them had managed to calm me down... to be fair to them they were professionals at it by now, for the past 2 years I had claimed to spot Roxas on the street at least once a week, and each time I was seeing things. I just wanted it to be him so badly... Why couldn't it just be him...? But I had to stop thinking that way, he was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. So I stood up to join the lunch line.

 

.o0o.

 

10 minutes later I returned with 2 ham sandwiches to our table. After breaking up yet another make out session between the silver and red haired love birds, we began idle chatting, trying to avoid yet another Roxas meltdown.

'So, Sora, mmf.' Kairi tried talking with her mouth completely filled with salad.

'Jeez, you're such a lady, Kairi!' I laughed at her.

She emphatically gulped (she was a beast when it came to table manners sometimes). 'So, Sora, what song are you gonna come out in the 16 phase?' She asked, acting as if her previous attempt to question me hadn't repulsed me to my very core, but her cocked eyebrow told me she found my repulsion hysterical.

'Same as always.' I shrugged. Why would I change my song?

'Not gonna mix it up this year?' Riku joined in with his tomboy girlfriend.

'You love that song, Riku!' I pouted at their double team.

'True...' He returned.

'Urgh, why do you guys like that song it's so thrashy!' As soon as she said those words she regretted them because she knew what was coming...

Riku sprang onto the bench him and Kairi had been sitting on, he positioned one leg on the table so his left leg was at a 90 degree angle. Kairi's salad filled mouth was just hanging open in horror (I loved it when Riku did this secretly).

'Well, Kairi, we love it because... dun dun dun dun dun dun...' Riku began his air-guitar.

'BECAUSE: EVEN THROUGH THE DARKEEEEST DAAAYS, THIS FIIIIIRE BUUURNS! AAAALLLLWWWAAAAYYYYSSSS! THIS FIIIIIRE BUUUURNS! AAAALLLLWWWAAAAYYYYSSSS!' Riku was screaming my favourite song's lyrics at full volume, incredibley off key, across the cafeteria. Kairi was as red as a tomato and hiding her face behind her hands at the stares we were getting, I on the other hand was head banging to the terrible performance on display.

Ah, what the hell, may as well live a little.

'EVEN THROUGH THE DARKEEEEST DAAAYS, THIS FIIIIIRE BUUURNS! AAAALLLLWWWAAAAYYYYSSSS! THIS FIIIIIRE BUUUURNS! AAAALLLLWWWAAAAYYYYSSSS!' I couldn't help but join in with Riku as he hit the next chorus. Kairi looked ready to explode, she had changed from red to purple by this point.

Riku sat down to a round of applause and cheers from the tables closest to us, pulling Kairi into a hug that she couldn't, nor did she want to, resist.

'Now, Sora, my dear boy, _that_ is how one spots fake friends. You see, a _real_ friend in that situation would either be too embarassed to move, such as Kairi, or they would join in and share in the glorious embarassment, such as yourself.'

'Yeah, I guess they're only clapping and cheering for you because they want to look like they know you, huh?'

'Exactly.' Riku nodded his approval.

I puffed my cheeks out, exasperated; I'd never understand why people did that... pretended to be your friend just for popularity. At least I was getting better at spotting it thanks to Riku's guidance.

'And remember,' Riku continued, 'girls and even a few guys might pretend to like you-'

'Well Sora doesn't need to worry about that bit Riku.' Kairi giggled.

It was true, I really didn't. My friends and even my family would joke around saying that I was asexual. I'd never dated, kissed, romantically hugged or held hands with someone from either gender. And I wasn't attracted to either gender either, so what could I do but agree with them and accept that I was asexual? You know... without the reproducing with oneself part... So when these slutty girls come over to me and ask me out, 'you're a Struggle Star and I'm a Cheerleader, it only makes sense!', they would say, I politely reject them, no matter how much they try to make their stuffed chests known to me when they ask... Because I wasn't interested in boobs... or anyone who didn't like me for me... which was no one, because they were all fake...

'Virgin till you die, huh, Sora?' Riku winked at me.

'If my first time isn't with someone who deserves it then, yeah, I guess I am a 'virgin till I die', Riku.' I returned, finishing my last sandwich.

Kairi looked at me approvingly. 'Don't let anyone tell you you're wrong, Sora, sex should only be with someone you trust and love more than anything.' She smiled and she dropped her right arm from the table where she had been resting it.

Riku suddenly jumped, his eyes had bulged with what looked like shock. 'W-we umm gotta get to class, Sora! See ya!' Riku practically leapt from the table dragging Kairi with him, she was giggling and blushing madly. I could tell they were going off to do something I didn't want to know about... for a start, we didn't have any classes today so he was in such a rush he couldn't even think of a decent lie!

Ditching our trays (mine, Riku's and Kairi's, since they had left their trays abandoned), I walked off towards the changing rooms located on the right of the school site, behind all the department buildings. An aerial view of the school would show it as a rectangle, the cafeteria was at the centre left with all the department buildings clustered towards the bottom, and all the sports fields were at the top along with the changing rooms which were 3/4 of the way up the right side of the site; the swimming pool was at the very top right corner of the site just above the changing rooms.

Changing into my sports gear (I had my Struggle costume saved for the 16 phase) of black gym shorts and a white t-shirt I headed over to my assigned Struggle arena for the tryout phase... Arena 1, on the other side of the school site, 3/4 of the way up on the left side. Sighing, I trecked over. I didn't even bother to look at my competition, it didn't matter who it was, where they came from, what they looked like, how much experience they had, all of them would fall before me, all because of a promise I made at the age of 6. Even though I was walking towards a crate full of Struggle weapons, the promise itself _was_ my weapon.

As I reached the weapons crates I immediately swerved to the left one, the 2 handed sword crate, my preferred method of fighting; I grabbed first sword I could and walked a few feet away from the crates to test the weapon. Of course Strugglers didn't fight with blades that could inflict real damage, they were all made from a thin, sleek aluminum compound that was capable of only scratching, but at the same time gave the blades the look of something much more deadly. World Series Strugglers used real blades however, and some schools tried to imitate that amongst their best fighters in order to draw attention, and it worked for a few years, Twilight Town and Destiny Islands both obtained fame for their high schools by using them, but it was actually after Leon's accident that they stopped... stupid Sephiroth.

Why would a school try something as ridiculous as that to obtain fame you ask? Well, because Struggling was a big deal- no, a huge deal. In fact, the 16 phase this evening would be televised on the local news, residents from across the Islands would be coming to watch and of course, there would be talent scouts. That was how it was every year, so by using real blades instead of fake, near-toy ones, it was easy to get attention. But to be honest I was glad they stopped it, way too much pressure, I mean, you were being watched by thousands of people: hundreds at the Arena, and thousands on TV!

I had finished stretching by this point and was called over by one of the prefects organising the try-outs to face my first opponent.

I had come pretty early so only about 30 people were watching from the stands, but they all cheered my name as usual... I just smiled a toothy grin back whilst my opponent, a slightly taller, black-haired kid visibly gulped.

The rules for Struggling were simple, but had changed from their old ones (people got tired of picking up all those orbs over and over again, the set up was longer than the match after all). All I had to do was score 7 points on this guy to advance up the try-out rankings. Hitting someone anywhere on the body was worth 1 point (crotch cups were recommended for both genders for obvious reasons...), a hit to the chest was worth 2 since it was the centre of the body and basically a bullseye, and finally, 1 point was awarded if your opponent went outside the circle that the fight took place in.

The bell rang for the fight to begin. I rushed forward towards him, I knew that if he was already nervous, then a bull-rush would kill him. I remained centred, with my sword held in both my hands above my right hip bone.

My opponent began moving towards me, trying to match my pace, he clearly didn't want to look like he was afraid... even though I knew he was.

A few feet apart he tried to anticipate my movement by striking first, swinging his 2 handed sword in a horizontal arc from right to left at chest height.

Within a second I had rolled under his swing and caught his shin with my own blade.

I turned my body halfway through the roll, bringing my sword back around my body and striking the back of his knee.

He stumbled at the impact, but turned back towards me trying to regain his composure.

Raising his sword above his head he was preparing to bring his whole body weight on my floor-level crouched positing - a move that would have broken any guard I attempted... but I wouldn't fall for that.

Springing up faster than he could blink I stabbed him as hard as my momentum would allow me to in the centre of his chest with the point of my sword.

He was winded and stumbling backwards as I curved my sword around my body, bent my knees and 360 degree-turned faster than any normal human being could have, smashing the centre of his chest with the side of my blade.

He went flying backwards through the air at the impact, landing outside the ring.

The bell rang... 7-0. One round to me.

The poor guy half-stumbled, half-fell back into the ready position after recovering from the fall. I would have said sorry, but he shouldn't have gotten in my way.

The bell rang again.

This time, the guy had changed his tone. He looked pissed, probably because of the damage I had done to his body in the previous round. But he dashed forwards this time. I squated on my knees. Waiting.

As he approached me, he swung from the ground upwards at me, trying to discombobulate my mind so I would fail to react properly.

I jumped backwards, not falling for his trap, and as his momentum took the sword above his chest, I sprang forwards from my new position and hit him straight in the chest, winding him for the second time.

As he stumbled, he tried to arc downwards on me, from his left shoulder to my left arm, but I blocked the attempt arcing towards him.

Both our blades rebounded from each other, his landing to the left side of his body. He swang from the new position.

I had already ducked underneath the attempt, predicting what he would do, hitting both of his knees and his right elbow. Thank God these swords made large buzzing noises whenever they contacted with human anatomy.

Leaping backwards, we stood locked in eye contact.

I could tell he knew this was about to be over.

Attempting to swing at me again with the same left shoulder-arc, I swung horizontally from the left and deflected his blow, causing  his body to recoil at the powerful clash. I used that opportunity to strike his right knee and stomach causing 2 more loud sound to erupt from the weapon sensors.

The bell rang... 7-0. It was over and my fake friends were going wild for me as I shook the black-haired boy's hand, noting his name was John (I remembered the ones who didn't try to make me remember them).

But there it was: another win... all to keep our promise...

_Roxas... wherever you are... I didn't forget..._

 

.o0o.

 

** Roxas' P.O.V.: **

I was standing in the changing rooms on the right side of the campus, clad in black gym shorts and a white t-shirt. Not only had my Mom put together my costume (which looked awesome!), but she and Cloud had even remembered my new gym clothes. Man, my family were so good to me...

Of course I had gotten lost about 5 times on my way to sign up for the Struggle try-outs, even with all those maps I had collected in the Physics building. So I had been late, and was told by _another_ prefect just to get changed and find the coach, a giant of a guy called Auron, and speak with him about entering anyway.

Exiting the changing rooms, I headed over to the M-S surname Struggle section, Arena 3, the one just outside the swimming pool. Luckily for me Auron was apparently overseeing that Arena, so I guess a few things were going my way in this bizarre, fucked up situation.

As I walked over the grass fields and paved walkways towards Arena 3, I entered through the entrance tunnel to the south of the Arena. I appeared once again in the strong sunlight of the Islands, surrounded by rows and rows of spectators, all of whom were watching 2 guys battling fiercely in the circle.

Over to the left of the circle, Auron was sat at the commentators table next to the bell keeper, clearly uninterested by the battle occurring before him - I could tell, he was my very first Struggle coach after all, but I doubt he would remember _me_.

Auron was indeed a giant: 7 feet tall, a muscular wall of a body and a spiky black-grey mane of hair, all topped off with his red ceremonial coaching robe. I still felt tiny approaching the man.

A few metres away from him, I noticed that Snow kid in the stands only a row behind Auron; he nudged his friends and pointed in my direction, whispering...

Within milli-seconds, his entire vacinity was aware of my presence... fuck.

I felt my heart turn to ice as Auron himself snapped his head in my direction. Locking eyes, a wolf like grin swept over his face.

He stood up from his seat as I stopped before him... now I felt tiny.

'Ummm, hi, Coach, my name's Ro-'

' _Roxas Strife_.' My name dripped from his tongue as his wolf-like grin spread from cheek to cheek. 'Yes, I had been expecting you to turn up at some point.'

I opened my mouth to question how.

'Snow.' He stated, his wolfish mane of hair flicked backwards as he nodded towads Snow behind him. Snow only winked back in response.

'Although I was expecting your other half to be here alongside you.' His grin couldn't get any larger if he tried. 'Just like old times.' He added his teeth into the grin (I was wrong, it could get even bigger...).

'That was years ago, he hasn't been 'alongside me' in a decade.' I spat.

'Interesting...' His wolfish grin shrank into what seemed to be a calculating look... was he judging me?

It seemed he was, because he just starred at me intently before suddenly rrefreshing his smile into a more regular, less terrifying one.

'So, I take it you're here to compete?' He ventured.

'Yeah, I didn't sign up in time though, I kinda got lost.' I smiled as I scratched the back of my head.

The wolfish grin returned. 'You know, Sora does that exact same thing when he's nervous or embarrassed. Are you sure you haven't bumped into him and rekindled that friendship?' Seriously, fuck that grin of his.

'Umm, nope. But I guess we spent so much time together when we were younger we just kind of... rubbed off on each other a bit.'

His grin returned to that impassive smile. 'Hmmm, okay, well Roxas I'll just sign you up myself, wouldn't want someone of your caliber going to waste after all...' He winked at me with his one good eye, his other bore a heavy scar, rendering it useless... to this day I still never knew what caused that scar... not even Cloud knew...

'Wait!' I started as he picked up a pen and clipboard.

He raised an eyebrow at me.

'Could you maybe... not write my name down?'

'You've clearly thought this one out.' He smiled kindly at me. 'Go on.'

'Instead of my name, could I have maybe just a code name or something... and could I be announced with that code name?' It was a very long shot, but who knows... maybe he'd buy this plan Cloud and I had concocted.

'Huh, so you moved to Twilight Town and now you're a secret agent?' He smirked at me.

I rubbed the back of my head earning another eyebrow from Auron. 'Well no, I mean, kinda, ummm...' I couldn't help but stutter.

'Roxas. Calm.' He commanded.

I obeyed. 'I don't want Sora (I spat out his name and recoiled at the same time) to know I'm here. I know he's going to make it to the final, and I wanna face him in the final.'

Auron actually looked interested, at least he was more interested in me than he was in the past 3 fights that had taken place whilst we had been talking.

'When we both get to the final,' I continued, 'I want to pull back to hood on my costume and scare the hell out of him. It'll throw him off guard, scare the hell out of him and break that little record of his.'

_And that thing Cloud was talking about... that thing that keeps him winning and gets him out of bed in the morning... And then I'll have destroyed him, just like he destoryed me..._

'Hmm.' He scratched his chin. 'And why would I do that to Sora? I've known you both for most of your lives - even if you did move away - Sora's been my protege since that time and I would hate to see him lose whatever it is he babbles on about when it comes to Struggling...' That wolfish grin was back. Fuck, he knew what I was planning.

'Now.' He continued. 'If you can beat Sora, I know it would hurt him. And why would I want to risk that?' Even though I could tell he wanted to protect Sora, I could see he was waiting for me to make it worth his while... after all, I was also his protege alongside Sora for a time...

I was stumped. I wanted to tell him that we _had_ to do it. That we _needed_ to hurt Sora, to make him suffer, and cry, and make him hate his life, and want to kill himself, and to feel all the pain I had felt because of _Him_! But that wouldn't work.

But then it hit me.

'You want a real show tonight don't you, Coach?' I smiled as I asked him.

'Go on.' He crossed his arms, waiting for me to strike gold.

'Imagine it. Streak versus Streak. Strife versus Leonhart. There can only be one winner, only one can survive. There'll never be another match like it. Ever.'

Auron was beaming. I had him already, I knew it.

'Mystery competitor destroys competition and goes on to face Sora Leonhart, a Struggle hero from one of the biggest Struggling dynasties in the country. And it turns out to be his old bestfriend, Roxas Strife, undefeated, retired junior Struggler of Twilight Town...' Auron had uncrossed his arms and was grinning like a small child listening to his favourite bed time story. '2 bestfriends reunited, for the battle of a lifetime... 2 of the biggest winning records in history, and one of them will end tonight.'

Auron shoved his clipboard and pen into my hands.

'Write whatever name you want, whatever music you want and whatever minitron projector video you want playing during your entrance. Just make sure you win. I want this to happen.' He commanded, completely onboard with my crazy plan.

We went over a few more secret details of my plan, like how I was going to unveil myself in the moment of truth. After 5 minutes of plotting, he shoved me into the circles with my choice of weaponry: the dual swords.

Feeling the soft tarmac beneath my training shoe encased feet, I locked eyes with my opponent. He had no idea who I was since Snow and his friends had been told to shut their mouths lest their throats be ripped out by Auron himself.

This lanky brunette just gazed back at me, arrogant, like I was some sort of novice. How wrong he was. And unfortunately for him, his brown hair just fueled my rage even further.

The bell rang. I was completely focused on my target.

I twirled my swords 720 degrees in my hands before snapping them to my sides pointing downwards at a 45 degree angle. The lanky kid pointed his rapier (the other weapon choice alongside the 2 handed sword) straight towards me.

I wasn't arrogant, but this kid was using a rapier. He had already lost.

Walking slowly towards him I could hear whispers questioning what I was doing as the lanky kid got into a defensive position. I could see by his bent back left leg that he was going to attempt a springing attack at me.

Surely enough, he sprang forwards, attempting to strike my chest. The narrow point of his blade completely missed me as I easily flattened my body, moving along his left side.

I struck his left knee with first with one hand, then his lower back with the other.

Before he could turn around I had struck his back 5 more times in a flurry of arcs.

The bell rang. I could hear roars from the stands, people cheering, asking their friends who I was and Auron just smiling with his hands tucked behind his head.

Round 1 to me, and I had literally just walked past the guy moving my arms a little bit. 3 years of retirement and I still had it.

The bell sounded for round 2 as we had swapped back to our old positions.

This time the kid charged me, aiming his rapier straight for my stomach this time.

I rolled to the right, swiping at his left foot as I went.

He lifted his foot out of harm's way, but left himself off balance.

I sprang from my ground-level position striking his left thigh, lower back, right thigh and right arm as I span past him.

I could tell his mind was discombobulated from the effect. He turned on me and attempted to jab my right shoulder this time, but I tilted my body to the left, smashing his right upper arm with my right sword.

I span with the momentum and hit the back of his left calf and finished him with a strike to the left of his ribcage.

The bell rang again. It was over.

I was given a standing ovation from the crowd of spectators whilst Auron simply smiled and nodded at me.

Dropping my weapons in the crate I walked over to Auron.

'You're right, this will be an evening to remember.' Was all he said before instucting me of where to head for my next match and heading off  himself to talk to some of the prefects.

I left through the southside tunnel entrance, trying to distance myself from random people coming up to me and asking my name. I fucking hated people who did that, it was just as bad in Twilight Town.

Thinking about my easy victory over that lanky kid I couldn't help but smile to myself.

_Sora... I remembered... I'll see you soon..._

 

.o0o.

 

The rest of the afternoon went exactly according to plan, no one had managed to score even a point against me let alone pose a real threat.

Unfortunately, that meant more and more of those leeches trying to act like they wanted to be my friend: people slinging their arms over my shoulder as I walked between arenas; girls (especially cheerleaders) trying to casually flirt with me, all of whom received a scowl before I rushed away from them; and one guy even went as far as to tried slipping his arm around my waist whilst wishing me luck. Fucking perv, I hated people touching me. No one, but no one touched me without my express permission, so naturally I shoved him away quite forcefully. Those cheerleaders would have gotten the same treatment had they come near me... probably worse to be honest.

The afternoon was beginning to fade into evening as I stood in one of the 16 private cubicles set up outside the arena being used for the tournament. There were 5 arenas on the school campus, Arena 1 I knew was just above the cafeteria on the left side and 2 was just north of it with a football field separating the 2 of them. I hadn't really explored that half of the sports section of the school, purely because 1 and 2 were being used by surnames A through L during tryouts, however having walked between 3 and 4 many, many times this afternoon I was certainly familiar with the right half: 4 was just south of 3 with a blitzball field separating those 2. What was really strange however was the Arena used for tournaments... it was known as 'Arena X', and surely enough it was the central point of the school's sports zone, meaning that all 5 Arenas together were in an 'X' shape... weird...

Situated at the north and south tunnel entrances was a backstage area containing a waiting lounge and 8 cubicles,  which entrance you were in was assigned based on surname again, so thankfully Leonhart and Strife were kept on opposite sides.

I was sitting on the bench inside my cubicle, waiting for my name to be called for the first 16 phase fight. I would be lying if I said I was nervous... because I was petrified and literally shaking - I had no idea just how many people came to watch this tournament! I mean, the Arena was twice as big as the other 4... but having looked out the entrance curtain earlier I had seen that the stands were packed with rows upon rows of spectators, all glittering with smartphone cameras flashing away as the cheerleaders warmed up the crowd. But what scared me the most was the fleet of different camera crews... I had thought Cloud was joking when we were talking about it being on the local news! At least I could watch the moment Sora's life lost all purpose over and over though...

One thing I knew for certain: I would have to thank my Mom for this costume! It. Was. Awesome!

I was wearing perfectly black combat trousers and an equally black vest, both of which were semi-skin tight, accompanied by pitch black combat boots that came up past my ankles to the start of my shins (of course my silver cross-shaped pendant was secured around my neck). But the most important part of my costume was the long, midnight black overcoat I wore: it trailed down my body (it was also semi-skin tight), stopping halfway down my shins, just past the cuffs of my boots.

My golden, spiky hair was usually the most noticable thing about me, however, it was invisible right now... hidden beneath the black hood that completely overshadowed my face. Looking in the mirror, I realised how ingenius my Mom's design truly was - I couldn't see an inch of my face at all, some how she had managed to make it obscure me whilst not hindering my vision at all, and  no matter how windy it was, the thing never came off. Awesome to look at and perfect for this situation, I felt like a ninja, or an assassin! Yeah... an assassin, here to kill Sora Leonhart once and for all!

I was pulled out of my imaginations and internal thoughts by the voices of some of my 'teamates'... that's what we supposedly were since we were all in the 16 phase anyway.

'Yo, Rai, you ready to practise or what?

'God damn it, Fuu, I'm in the ZONE!' I heard some deep voiced guy shout before the sounds of Stuggle swords echoed around the place.

That guy couldn't have been in my year, could he? Now that I thought about it I had to fight a lot of much bigger guys today and some smaller ones too.

'Tenebris! You're up first!' Came Auron's thunderous voice.

Tenebris... that was Snow's surname... but he was a 4th year finalist. What the hell was going on?

As Snow's footsteps died down past the curtain I heard the cheers of applause and shouts... they were thunderous to say the least.

Not long after I heard the shouts renew and a new name being chanted by the crowd, but I couldn't make it out clearly, and to be honest I didn't give a shit who it was. _I_ had to be in the zone.

'Yo, Rai, got any idea why the hell that 4th year's in here with us?'

'Dunno, Fuu, don't give a fuck, stupid guy's gotta stupid fucking name, that's all I know.'

'What, Tenebris?'

'No. Snow. Who the fuck calls their child 'Snow'? It's a fucking type of weather not a fucking name.'

'Your name means thunder in Japanese, first and last so why don't _you_ shut the fuck up, Rai?' Came a third more soft voice.

'Who the fuck asked you, Mitzura? You wanna go? Huh!?'

'Narukami, get you ass out there! NOW!' Came Auron's voice once again.

'You're God damn lucky, Tidus! I swear if coach wasn't here...'

'NOW!' Auron boomed, shaking the waiting room.

I could hear as Rai's heavy footsteps died out in the distance that the crowd was electric, a few moments later they roared Rai's name and began chating 'Rai-Naru-Ka-Mi!' with a _clap clap clap-clap-clap_ between chants.

'So who'd you put down, Snow?' Tidus' voice asked.

'Some kid called Buckingham. Great skills for a 3rd year but I had the edge experience wise.'

'Yeah, how come we're all competing together? Usually there's a tournament per year, ain't there?'

Now that Tidus mentioned it, no wonder everyone was bigger than me today.

'New regulations to make each school seem more important. One team, one regional cup and only one thing to organise.'

'That really it?'

'No. It's because no one really gave a crap about the 1st, 2nd or 3rd year school teams with the exception of Leonhart (I cringed) last year. So they just combined the teams to stop the failing interest in the sport at school levels.' Snow replied like he was reading from a script.

'The sport's losing interest because everything's so childproof and safe, there's no risk involved anymore. _That's_ why we're losing interest.' Tidus scoffed.

'I know, Tidus, I know. I had really hoped to be captain this year as well, but Leonhart's gonna ruin all of that.'

'Shit, what if I have to face him...' Tidus almost whispered.

'If you do... good luck, apparently he's even more focused than usual.'

_Good... that just means he'll suffer even more when he sees me..._

'Mitzura! You're up!' Auron projected over their conversation.

'Shit...' Was all Tidus could say before he too disappeared just like Snow and Rai before him.

'Yo, Frosty! Where's Rai at, you see him on the way back?' I could hear Fuu's wannabe gangster feminine voice once again.

'Wakka beat the living hell out of Rai for your information.' I could almost hear the smirk dripping into Snow's words...

'You gotta be shittin' me...'

'I am not 'shittin'' you at all, Fuu.' Was Snow's last response before I heard him enter another cubicle, most likely to get away from Fuu's incessant foul behaviour. Other than secrecy I was also hiding in my cubicle to avoid my fellow 'teamates', I used that word lightly as I had no intention of actually being on the team. I was here to fuck Sora Leonhart over, and that was all.

Slowly but surely everyone else was called up one by one. Tidus had returned victorious pretty quickly after his opening match, Fuu had taken a lot longer but came back in one piece, but Rai and the other 2 others had obviously been eliminated. One other guy was yet to be called up, so it came down to either myself or him.

I heard Auron's massive footsteps once more. And then the curtain being yanked open. My heart was pounding... was it time?

'13! You're up!'

'Coach, who the heck is '13'?' Tidus' voice came.

I didn't leave time for that question to be answered. I opened the cubicle more focefully than I needed to and strode towards the curtain and Auron with my back straight, weapons already drawn facing downwards at my sides.

' _This_! Mitzura, is 13.' Auron might as well have been a wolf with the grin and venomous voice that accompanied his statement.

I could see the puzzled yet frightened looks on the tanned face of Tidus, the intimidated Fuu and the shocked yet smiling face of Snow (who had probably been expecting me to turn up at some point in the 16 phase).

Auron and I passed through the curtain into the long entrance tunnel of the Arena... it might as well have been a million miles long, I could hear the crowd pulsing with excitement making the air thick, too thick. My breathing started to grow rapid... I couldn't help it, but God damn it not now, not when I was so close!

'Roxas. Breathe. Focus.' Auron commanded.

But I couldn't help it, his words weren't working.

'What? Gonna panic? Lose your first match? Let Leonhart be the victor? The winner? The champion?'

Fuck. No.

I calmed my breathing back to normal as we reached the halfway mark.

'Good.' Auron smiled at my wordless denial of his previous questions.

'Why 13 as a name?'

'Well, 13 is meant to be bad luck for a start.' He winked at me considering my plot. 'But it was also because I assigned you number 13 when I was figuring out the match ups, had to make sure you wouldn't fight Leonhart prematurely after all.'

'Thanks.' I said genuienly, he had gone to a lot of trouble to organise this for the sake of my revenge.

'No problem. Just make sure you give everyone one hell of a show.' He patted my back as he left me at another curtain a few metres away from the actual exit into the open air. I waited until I was called.

'Ladies and Gentlemen! I give you his opponent...!' The crowd went from cheering to dead silent as they waited for the mystery to be revealed.

'Thirteen!' He roared.

The curtain was flung open before me as my music hit: _Going Under_ by Evanescence (it would change come the final just for Sora's sake of course...)

_Now I will tell you what I've done for you -_

_50 thousand tears I've cried._

_Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you -_

_And you still won't hear me (going under)_

_Don't want your hand this time - I'll save myself._

_Maybe I'll wake up for once (wake up for once)_

_Not tormented daily defeated by you_

_Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom_

I waited.

_I'm dying again_

I walked straight out towards my standing location for the beginning of the fight.

_I'm going under (going under)_

_Drowning in you (drowning in you)_

_I'm falling forever (falling forever)_

_I've got to break through_

_I'm going under_

The crowd was screaming, roaring , shouting, everything at my appearance, they had no idea who I was of course, but a mystery competitor in a black robe, completely concealed... how awesome would that be to see!

'WHO-IS-IT!?'

'WHO-IS-IT!?'

The chants could probably be heard across the entire Islands! And my heart was beating faster than ever before, my feet were trembling, my head was swimming with adrenaline as I looked at my opponent.

A spiky haired, very dirty blond-haired kid about half a foot taller than me stood with his 2 handed sword hanging from his right hand. To say he looked scared would have been an understatement.

I had no idea who this kid's name was and to be honest it really didn't matter.

He would fall just like all the others, simply because he was in the way of my mission to destroy Sora Leonhart.


	5. Do I Scare You Now?

** Cloud's P.O.V.: **

'TEN!'

'NINE!'

'EIGHT!'

'SEVEN!'

'SIX!'

'FIVE!'

'FOUR!'

'THREE!'

'TWO!'

'ONE!'

The minitron screen that stood erected over the northern entrance tunnel went pitch black. The flourescent green numbers counting down previously had vanished as we awaited the fourteenth competitor of the 16 phase.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't bored shitless right now. The only reason I was even here was A. to support Rox, and B. because Dad told me that if he had to suffer the 'junior league fuckfest', then so did I; the old man was a heartless bastard to be sure. But so far, no sign of Roxas anywhere, and I was really getting sick of the lack of talent in this highschool, I could've beaten all these idiots when I was 12, and the fact that some of them were 4th year finalists just made it sting even more to watch.

But I was still having the time of my life right now.

How is that possible you ask? Didn't I just contradict myself? Look, I might be bored, and the kids here can't Struggle to save their lives, but right now none other than Squall Leonhart was sat to my left, leaning back in his seat on the uncomfortable bleachers just like me, and the 2 of us together were in hysterics ripping the piss out of these no talents.

Speaking of piss... we had both nearly wet ourselves earlier watching this muscle brain called Rai take on some other muscle brain called Wakka. I mean, the guys were just clashing swords and trying to overpower each other, there was no skill, no passion and certainly no finesse, not to mention the fact that they kept tripping over their own feet. _Man_ me and Squall were gonna have to have words with Auron about this crap.

I heard from Squall that the Arena had been touched up over the summer apparently, so I would give 'The Wolf', as he was known in the Struggle circuit, some props on that one, at least Rox's moment of glory would be in an equally glorious Arena. And it really was a glorious Arena, the outside circular walls of each of the 5 Arenas were made from thatchd bamboo, structured with steel on the inside for support of course; at equal intervals around the top rim of the Arena we were in, above the bleachers, were large tiki torches that cast shadows across the seating areas, designed so that when fighting, the audience was barely visible... it gave the impression that it was just you and your opponent, 1 versus 1, no one else existed except for the 2 of you in that moment... yet from the audience's perspective everything was well lit, giving you the impression that you were part of a massive crowd.

Anyway, I was getting carried away with the ambiance, but who could blame me? The sun had set so the brilliant star filled sky was covering Destiny Islands, and the gigantic moon set itself against the torches perfectly...

_Again... Carried away... Back to reality, Cloud..._

The black minitron suddenly turned completely white and the music roared to life.

_Within struggle, amidst horror_

_Inside conflict, visceral war_

_Make a stand here, vanquish all fear_

_Don't hesitate, eradicate_

Giant letters smashed onto the minitron screen: B-O-Y-D.

The crowd roared, this guy was clearly a favourite... only some silver-haired kid who I vaguely recognised and another sandy-dirty blond-haired kid had gotten reactions as big as this... but Squall, Zack, Dad and I just sat there in a line, arms folded over our chests, bored.

_Torn between Scylla and Charybdis_

_Feel the fear ripening, go taste it_

_Torn between Scylla and Charybdis_

_Feast fruits of valor, if you face it_

There the kid was, about half a foot taller than Rox, very dirty blond hair, wearing military print cargo shorts and a black tank top with a skull and crossbones on it. His outfit made him look dangerous but no where near as dangerous as my baby bro was gonna look. That thought made me smile, the progress he'd made in the past 2 and a bit years was incredible... I was so proud of him, but I'd never tell him that of course, no baby brother should ever know that their older brother thinks they're as awesome as I thought Rox was.

Why so sentimental you ask? That was a very long and painful story, and I wouldn't be repeating it very soon, if ever... I had only ever told Squall about this...

_Stop thinking about it!_

I obeyed my conciousness, no use getting teary in front of your very masculine best friend, his dad and your dad.

Hayner Boyd's music kept playing as he stood, arms spread eagle like he was trying to gather all of the crowds applause in his arms or something, vainglorious loser. He rotated full circle like this a few times, before starting his own chant which the crowd naturally ate up and continued.

'HAYNER! HAYNER! HAYNER!'

'What. A. Loser.' Squall scoffed from my left, flicking his shoulder length, light chocolate coloured-hair over his left shoulder.

'There's a 50/50 chance Rox is gonna come and rip his head off in a matter of seconds, Squall.'

'I have no idea why I let you get away with calling me that.' He smirked at me.

''Leon' was my idea, remember?'

'Hmph. Yeah alright.' I saw his usually impassive face contort into a grin, probably as he remembered how I came about with that idea when we were 7. Good times... and hopefully there were a million more to come now that me and my best bud were together again.

Speaking of best buds... I had been thinking about Rox's situation, and, although I know he'll be happy to hurt Sora today, what happens when he gets home, the euphoria wears off and he realises that for the remainder of highschool he's stuck with Sora as a next door neighbour? I mean seriously, this kid needs to think of the long term sometimes, he always gets so damn emotional and does whatever the hell comes to him first, if he just sat and thought about the consequences and planned a bit more strategically then maybe he wouldn't get so worked up about things. But that was just the way he was, always getting worked up over _something_. I swear all those video games he played got to his head sometimes, I mean, maybe he thinks he can solve all his problem with magic and swords and shit like that... well I guess he does, considering his plan to get revenge on Sora involves a sport where swords are the weapons... but that's a tenuous conclusion at best...

_Revenge for what?_

_That_ was the question on everyone's lips after I told the rest of the clan about Rox's idea. _That_ was the question Squall had been bugging me with since I met up with him at the school gates earlier so we could get the best seats in the house (which they were - middle row in the middle of the stands on the east side, the lighting was perfect for a good view here).

But why did Rox even need revenge? What the hell did Sora do to upset him, piss him off, betray him or whatever the fuck he was supposed to have done? Two kids who were absolutely inseparable before we moved, I mean, because of them, both our families always had to go on holiday or days out together:

_'NO! I'm not going anywhere without my Sora!'_

Jesus... I could still remember Rox's protests if Mom or Dad even mentioned the idea of going somewhere where they couldn't be together... The day they told Rox and Sora we were moving was... tragic... even though I was 9 at the time I still broke down crying, not because I was so upset about leaving Destiny Islands, but because I could literally see my baby bro's heart being torn apart in front of me... and it killed me a little... and I think it killed Squall a bit too to see Sora in the same state as Rox.

Anyway- I was worse than Roxas for rambling in my own thoughts sometimes- I have no idea what happened between them, Squall and I had spent the best part of a decade trying to figure that one out, and so far we were clueless. So no, I didn't have the answer to that question, and neither did Squall.

'Would you two shut the hell up.' Dad grumbled from my right, smoke trailing from his lips as he smoked (how did he sneak cigarettes into a school event!?). 'Wouldn't wanna miss this Boyd kid's fight.' He finished, but I could see by his raised cheeks that he was smiling, probably trying to be his usual sarcastic, asshole-self to impress _his_ best bud, Mr Fair, or as I had called him since age 2, Zack.

'You know, Cid, I didn't like it when you called this a 'junior league fuckfest' earlier, seeing as how both our boys are a part of it.' Zack Leonhart voiced from Dad's right side.

'But?' The three of us answered in unison.

'But...' I could see that he was valuing this Hayner kid's Struggling worth by his showboating. 'You guys know what this is?'

'A 'junior league fuckfest'?' We answered in unison again.

'It's the finest example of a 'junior league fuckfest'.' He deadpanned causing us all to burst into laughter, even a few of the parents surrounding us who had been tutting disapprovingly at our language couldn't help but laugh at Zack's delivery. I loved the fact that Dad and Zack treated Squall and I more like friends than sons now that we were out of highschool, it made family crap like this so much more bearable.

_Apprehension runs down your chin_

_Masticate it, suck those tears in_

_Life's a battle, perpetual crusade_

_One against all, time to wield the blade_

Fuck. This kid's entrance was bland and annoying us all pretty quickly. The crowd had been looking to the 4 of us - Squall and I being famous country wide for our Struggling glory and our dads seeing as how they had been in the Struggle World Series a few times each - for judgment, so although they would stand, cheer, roar and chant for each competitor, after they realised we had no interest in someone, they checked themselves and sat down quite quickly. And this kid was still turning around eating up all the chants! I hope whoever he fights teaches him a lesson...

_Torn between Scylla and Charybdis_

_Feel the fear ripening, go taste it_

_Torn between----_

'Ladies and Gentlemen! I give you his opponent...!' The crowd went from cheering to dead silent as they waited for the mystery to be revealed.

'Thirteen!' Auron howled the name as the 4 of us jumped to our feet before anyone else, screaming applause.

_Now I will tell you what I've done for you -_

_50 thousand tears I've cried._

_Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you -_

_And you still won't hear me (going under)_

_Don't want your hand this time - I'll save myself._

_Maybe I'll wake up for once (wake up for once)_

_Not tormented daily defeated by you_

_Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom_

God damn Rox had good taste in music... and creepy codenames...

_I'm dying again_

A Roxas sized figure, cloaked completely head to toe in a pitch black cloak appeared from the south entrance tunnel. We led the chants, supporting him as best we could, but we hardly needed to, the mere sight of us on our feet had every single spectator in the Arena standing, screaming, roaring, cheering, shouting, everything; some little kids were jumping up and down at the mysterious figure screaming Rox's codename.

'Fuckfest's over, Boys.' Dad remarked.

_I'm going under (going under)_

_Drowning in you (drowning in you)_

_I'm falling forever (falling forever)_

_I've got to break through_

_I'm going under_

Rox had reached his starting position, he was poised with his weapons drawn and even with his hood on I could tell how focused he was, ready to decimate his opponent. But he would barely need to try, Hayner Boyd looked ready to shit himself, his right arm wielding his 2 handed sword was limp at his side and his mouth was hanging open.

'WHO-IS-IT!'

'WHO-IS-IT!'

The four of us led the chants, developing Rox's mysterious character for him, getting the crowd completely psyched. 'Psyched' was an understatement though, the reaction for Rox was twice as big as the reaction for anyone else so far, it was unreal how well this was going (both his mysterious character and his plot, but only myself and Squall knew of the latter).

The bell rang.

Rox rushed forward, faster than I had seen him move it years. Hayner tried to block by raising his 2 handed sword, but a waist height attack from Rox with both his swords from right to left broke Hayner's guard before he could even form one.

Before I could blink Rox had span completely around, crouching as he did so and delievered 3 blows to Hayner's legs and 2 to his chest. It all happened so fast none of us even saw where he hit, we just heard the buzzers as contact was made from his swords.

The bell sounded again and the crowd was still roaring, amazed by the speed of this unknown figure.

After the 2 of them had returned to their starting positions the bell sounded for a 3rd time.

This time the Hayner kid was ready and tried to rush forwards to match Rox's pace.

But that's exactly what Rox wanted, I knew what he was trying to do... after all I had taught him this technique myself.

Rox feinted left, Hayner premptively swung from his right shoulder to his left knee to try and break Rox's momentum. But Rox had already dashed to Hayner's left side, reaching the exposed half of the boy's body before his premptive attempt had really begun.

Rox struck with a flurry of hits, left sword to the left part of Hayner's chest, right sword to the kid's knee. He rotated his body around and away from Hayner allowing a double stab to the his left thigh before moving back out of range.

They stood on opposite sides of the circle to each other, staring at each other.

5-0 to Rox in the second round. This other kid was done. As Leon nudged me and smiled I knew what he was trying to say, and I agreed, Rox was awesome.

The crowd went deafy silent as they realised the end was near, even Auron's wolfish grin had widened in surprise at how quickly one of his stars was being decimated by Rox (I knew that Rox had told him all about our plan, knowing Auron there was an ulterior motive in play... but I could worry about that for Rox later).

Hayner visibly gulped and the crowd remained on the edge of their seats, probably all wondering who could have destroyed one of their best and brightest so easily.

The two Strugglers charged at each other, engaging in a serious of deadly strikes as they collided, but after a few strokes Hayner had met his match and Rox broke his guard with ease, stabbing the poor kid's chest with his right sword.

The bell rang.

'Ladies and Gentlemen! Your winner, Thirteen! Auron howled as the crowd (led by the 4 of us) jumped to life and applauded the hell out of the mystery figure, man, I can't believe how scary he looks when he Struggles, hard to believe he gets tormented by a 9 year old girl at home...

Within a second Roxas had retreated behind the curtain and down the entrance tunnel leaving Hayner mesmorized in the middle of the Arena. Auron went towards him, patted his shoulder and sent him over to a small gate into the other side of the stands where he joined what looked like his family, pretty down-trodden... it wasn't that he was a bad Struggler, it was just that-'

'Shame he had to go against Roxas.' I heard Squall say.

'Was just thinking the same thing...' I responded.

'W-Was that Roxas?' I heard Zack question.

'You were cheering for him as well, Dad, of course it was.' Leon responded.

I turned to look at Zack, his mouth was still hanging open, just like the rest of the crowd.

'Yeah... b-but I mean that was insane! That was Hayner Boyd! He was depty captain of the 1st year team last year!.'

'Maybe. But Rox mauled his way to the top of the Twilight Town Under-14 League. Kid didn't stand a chance.' Dad responded.

'Well, yeah... but, he looked so vicious! Are you really telling me that that's the same kid who used to use Sora as a freaking teddy bear?'

'The one and only.' I couldn't help but half-smile at the childhood memories... before we nearly lost Rox...

'To be honest, Dad, Sora's exactly the same.' Leon added into the conversation as Dad just kept smoking.

'Hmmm. You're right about that. Freaky they have the same win records...' Zack replied.

'Yeah that is freaky... but the point is, you've seen what Sora's like when he Struggles and yet he used Roxas as a teddy bear just as much if not more than Roxas did him.' Squall added.

'True...' Zack replied.

' _And_ I wouldn't exactly say that Sora is the most buff, macho guy around, would you?' Squall continued.

' _Definitely_ not.' Zack chuckled.

'Used each other as 'teddy bears', haven't spoken to each other in 10 years. Fucking mystery on our hands, Boys.' Dad chimed in.

'What is this _Scooby Doo_ now?' Zack chuckled again.

'You bet your ass it is. Zack, I'm appionting you Daphney.' Cid continued as Zack pouted (probably where Sora got that pout he used to do from, the one that could brainwash Rox in an instant back in the good old days).

The last guy from the south entrance tunnel had now entered and was currently trying to start a rave with his crappy techno entrance music. We just continued talking as this kid  called Neku kept up with his antics.

'Hate to break it to you but there's only 4 of us, not 5, Old Man.' This time I chuckled as Leon opposed Dad's proposition.

'Hmph, you're right, Kid.' Squall feigned being insulted as Dad retorted.

'Well, Sora's always wanted to know why Roxas blocked all contact with him.' Zack began. 'And he's always kinda been like an energetic puppy, does that count?'

'Makes him Scrappy if he's a puppy.' Dad said between billows of smoke.

'Fuck. This is a mystery in itself then...' Zack concluded as I chuckled once more.

Our conversation was cut short as the entrance music of the final member of the 16 phase began.

The air was pierced with the sound of a cut throat guitar riff. I recognised the song immediately, after all, it was Rox's favourite...

Killswitch Engage's _This Fire Burns_ erupted throughout the Arena.

I had no idea what was going on, all I knew at that moment was every single person (and this time I actually mean every single God damn person) was on their feet screaming. I felt deaf.

The only people left sitting were Dad and I, Squall and Zack were busy going crazy beside us... I think I was beginning to guess why as they yanked us up to our feet to join them.

_Yeeeeaaaaahhhh!_

_Yeah._

_All I've ever wanted was destiny to be fulfilled,_

_it is in my hands, I must not fail,_

_I must not fail._

A series of perhaps the best chords I'd ever heard together were then played as I looked down upon the figure who had appeared from the north entrance tunnel.

The boy was a perfect match to Rox's height. He had gravity defying cinnamon-brown spiked (but more pointy than spiky really) hair with electric blue eyes, so electric and colourful I could make them out from the stands, I mean, they could rival Rox's eyes for how vivid they were (and that was an almost impossible feat). His costume was an intricate tangle of colours: Black, shin-length combat shorts that had a thin white stripe around the knees; golden-coloured belts encricled the middle of his thighs and made a 'X' shape at his waist with a dark blue belt topping the 'X' (the thigh portion of his shorts also seemed to be more dark blue than black too); his shoes were a mix of black and gold, with the gold more at his ankles and the black down to his toes and a zip completed the garment by running down the front of his ankles. That wasn't all though: he was wearing a skin-tight blue t-shirt with a red patch over his abdomen and a jacket that was black with silver linings around the sleeve cuffs (that ended above the elbow), the collar and the bottom of the jacket; a black hood also accompanied the jacket although I doubted he used it at all, probably just in case of very sudden rain showers or something.

One thing struck me though, that silver crown-shaped pendant he was wearing. It was the one Rox had given him years ago when they 'got married'. I recognised it because Rox still wore the silver cross-shaped one Sora had gotten him.

Well. That was an interesting clue for when Mystery Inc. (as Cid dubbed us) reconvenes to discuss our biggest mystery... Okay we're 2 lame families...

_Even through the darkest days,_

_this fire burns, always._

_this fire burns, always._

Sora Leonhart wore one other item of clothing around his waist near his red holster-style pockets: the golden under-14 league championship belt from his previous Struggling years, he had probably gotten to keep it because he was the last champion to hold it before they retired that league in this region (Rox had gotten to keep the same thing for Twilight Town since they had retired the league across the country due to budget cuts in the minors...).

_This is the broken ground_

_Misery begins to rise._

_Turn away from yesterday,_

_tomorrow's in my eyes._

_Nevermore to be held down_

_by the wings of history._

_Nevermore to be cast aside,_

_this day is mine._

_Even through the darkest days,_

_this fire burns, always._

_this fire burns, always._

Because I supported Rox in all his endeavors... I hated this kid as a person for whatever he had done to cripple my baby bro to such an extent. But the Struggle regional champion in me loved him, he had the aura of a true champion: he didn't showboat, he didn't try to start his own chants (the crowd were going nuts by themselves anyway), but most importantly, he wasn't paying any attention to the crowd, in fact I could tell he was oblivious to us because of the way he handed his championship belt straight to Auron as he entered and immediately stood ready, eyes never once leaving this Neku kid. To say the least: Sora Leonhart was focused as hell.

The bell rang and Neku danced forwards with his rapier (he must be crazy to try using that weapon at his age). But I didn't really get a chance to examine his technique before the bell sounded a 2nd time.

Neku was sprawled on the floor having taken 3 chest shots and an uppercut strike to the abdomen. The poor kid couldn't even defend himself from the fury of Sora it seemed.

The 3rd bell sounded and an already defeated Neku suddenly bounced back with such speed that he nearly caught Sora in his right side.

But Sora had already limboed underneath the attempt and had thrusted his sword into Neku's abdomen, causing the poor kid to stagger backwards as Sora span around and smashed his chest with a 2nd strike. Another shot to the chest followed and then a 4th after that as Sora span around whilst crouching down and smacked Neku's left knee with enough force to knock the kid over again.

The 4th bell rang. Game over.

Neku hobbled (mostly out of shame, I could tell he wasn't actually injured) through the same gate that Hayner had gone through and joined his family and friends, all of whom were congradulating him for making it onto the team.

Sora just let his arm be raised by Auron before taking his belt back, securing it around his waist and leaving. But before he left I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at something... just before he reached the entrance tunnel I could have sworn I saw him sigh... and I definitely saw something else... he reached for his silver pendant, brought it up to his face and... held it to his forehead whilst closing his eyes... he huffed again before he allowed it to fall gracefully back to its secure position around his neck... strange.

'He does that after every fight.' Squall answered my thoughts for me.

'So I'm guessing he still cares about Rox then...?'

'Cares about him!' Zack practically shouted from my far right. 'Let me give it to you straight,' he continued, 'every single night, the first thing Sora asks Aeris when he steps through the door from school or comes home from hanging out with Riku-' I raised an eyebrow at the name as I didn't recognise it, 'oh! Riku's that kid with long silver hair. Anyway, when Sora gets home from wherever or comes down stairs from watching TV or something, he asks his Mom, 'Has Roxas called?', and everytime she just smiles and tells him, 'No, but maybe tomorrow,', and this happens every single day of the week.'

'You being serious right now, Zack?' Dad asked from between us.

'Yeah, it's true.' Squall answered for him as Zack nodded.

'But.' Leon continued. 'That thing he did with the pendant, or necklace, or whatever you want to call it, he always does that after fights, I mean, he does it beforehand too, but obviously he was waiting in that tunnel so you couldn't see it.'

'Wedding necklace, right?' Dad asked even though he knew what they were.

'Yeah... never seen 2 kids closer than our little boys, Cid.' Zack laughed and I think we all smiled at the memories from years ago.

 

.o0o.

 

So about an hour had passed and we were down to the final 4: Riku Hosakawa, who I now knew his name, and also that he wasn't a bad Struggler by any means; Snow Tenebris, who was arrogant but an okay Struggler, so I could let his ego slide for now; Sora Leonhart, who was... well... he was incredible, no one had lasted longer than 10 seconds with the kid, he was so God damn ferocious; and last, but absolutely by no means least, my baby bro, Roxas Strife. Whether Rox would get what he wanted from today or not I was unsure... but I did know something: I was a very proud big brother, and I think Dad was pretty damn proud as well.

Was Roxas going to be able to fight Sora and hold his own? Absolutely. Rox had demolished everyone he had fought against just as quickly if not faster than Sora, and considering Rox hadn't Struggled even casually for over 2 years, that was an impressive feat.

So then why was I feeling like I was?

How do I feel? I feel... worried... apprehensive... scared...

Why do I feel like that?

Well because I was doing something Rox was incapable of: thinking of the future.

After he fights Sora, he has to live next door to someone he supposedly hates, loathes, despises... someone he never wanted to see again... ever. And he has to go to school with him, they'll see each other every day. And what will come of that? Will it be too much for Rox? Maybe he'll get emotional... what if it gets too much and he hits Sora? Fights him... not just in a Struggling fight but they actually try and kill each other... what happens then?

Or...

What if...

What if everything that happened 2 and a bit years ago repeats itself... what if all of that happens again... and what if...

What if this time we can't stop Roxas...?

I wondered about that as a triumphant Sora walked back into his entrance tunnel for a second time this evening having just brought the pendant to his forehead again...

 

.o0o.

 

** Roxas' P.O.V.: **

He was here.

He was so close to me now.

I knew that on the opposite side of the Arena Sora Leonhart was sat, probably in his own private cubicle, getting ready for _his_ semi-final match against Snow. I had been listening to every conversation around me as time had gone on this evening and I knew for a fact that Riku Hosakawa was going to be my next victim, he had been the vice captain of the 1st year team last year, meaning he had been 2nd in command...

So here I was, waiting... listening to the roars of the crowd, the voices of my fellow fighters and all the while a million images flooded through my mind, and all of them involved a shattered Sora, mourning the loss of his precious record... it was... beautiful...

But enough thinking about that, my limbs were shaking badly enough with excitement, I had to focus. Snow hadn't come back yet, but then again, I knew he wouldn't, Sora would have made short work of him I was sure of that much.

'Roxas.'

I jumped at the sudden mention of my name.

'Ready for the last hurdle?' Auron called from the entrance tunnel.

I was.

Without hesitating I unlocked the door of my cubicle and met Auron as we walked towards the Arena circle.

'You don't have to worry about Hosakawa throwing a tantrum like Almasy did.'

In my previous fight some kid called Seifer Almasy had lasted about 5 seconds with me in both rounds. He was so pissed that he lunged for me as I turned my back to walk away, of course Auron was between us before Seifer could get close to me and promptly ejected him from the Arena, much to the embarrassment of his parents who were in attendance.

'Maybe if Seifer had been more focused and less aggressive he wouldn't have lost so easily...' I voiced.

'Hmph, he's a lose cannon that boy, needs some disipline... and by that I mean his parents need to take the reins and reel that kid in tightly.'

I nodded in agreement to his sentiment but didn't really get it... I mean why do people need to be violent when they get angry? Yeah if I'd lost I would have been upset but I sure as hell wouldn't have tried to attack the guy who beat me...

Actually... I couldn't really think that way... What if Sora does beat me? What if he's better? I want to hurt him as badly as possible... If I lost... would I lose control?

The mental image of myself beating his stupid face in was appealing... But would I really do something like that? I mean, if I pushed him over, got on top of him, and just started to punch the living shit out of his stupid fucking face... Would I feel better...? I... I don't really know... I mean the thought alone sounded great... No... It sounded fucking fantastic... I couldn't help but smile at the thoughts I was having...

'You can think like that all you want, Roxas. I have no idea what happened between you 2 and it's clear to me that it was something terrible. Of course the 2 of us haven't had any contact since you left the Islands, but the state Sora was in when he was 13...

'What 'state'?' I questioned.

'I shouldn't have mentioned it actually.' I turned to look at his face and I could tell that whatever he was talking about was bad... Auron was renowned for not being able to feel physical pain, that's part of the reason he became such a great Struggler, but his face had 'pain' written all over it...

'Um, are you okay, Coach?' I couldn't help but ask as we drew closer to the exit curtain.

'I'm fine, Roxas.' He deadpanned. 'But it's nice that you asked me, most students wouldn't have dared to ask me that question due to my reputation.'

'They wouldn't?' I asked with a cloaked raised eyebrow.

'No.' He smirked. 'But I've known how compassionate you were since you were barely the height of my knee, I remember very clearly that if Sora ever got a cut or a scrape, no matter how tiny, you would risk facing my wrath to call off our training session.'

'Yeah... Well times have changed...' I added to his story about the 'good ol' days'.

'Indeed. But the point is, when you see that boy again and you come face to face, I think you need to accept that you will also be more than surprised at what you find.'

'I've already seen him today... he looks like... Sora...' Was all I could say.

'No. You walked past him but neither of you truly saw one another-' I was about to question how he knew we had been walking past one another as I hadn't mentioned how I had seen him, but Auron answered before I could ask, 'Hosakawa informed me to watch out for another 'Roxas delusion' that Sora was suffering from, but of course I knew that this time it was no delusion.'

'What's a-' I was about to question, I mean, really, what the fuck was he talking about right now?

'Listen.' He stopped me at the curtain. 'When you see that boy, ask yourself, could you really hit him? Could you punch him?' I thought I could... 'No. Roxas. I mean, that boy, Sora Leonhart, could you really hurt him in that way?' In my mind... it's what I wanted to do... 'Don't delude _yourself_ here, Roxas.'

And with that last, classically cryptic, Auron comment, I was left alone as he called my codename.

Before I really knew what was happening my body had carried me to the familiar starting position. I looked upon Riku Hosakawa and smiled inside the safety of my hood... Seifer hadn't really been too shocked when he had seen me last match, but Riku looked ready to shit himself with those bulging eyes and gaping mouth, reminiscent of Hayner Boyd actually...

But there was something else... that glint in his eye and the way his enlarged eyes starred at me...

I saw his gaping mouth shut and move... formulating words...

Fuck. I could only watch from my compromised position as Riku mouthed at me: 'Roxas?' He was questioning with his lips. Shit.

I turned to Auron who was the only other person to realise what was occurring, he looked surprised, his raised eyebrows and crossed arms betrayed that emotion.

But he reacted quickly and ordered the bell to be rang immediately.

There was no way in hell I would let this silver-haired asshole ruin my plans. No. Fucking. Way.

As we charged towards each other I used my dexterity with the dual swords to swing them into blurs, hopefully with my speed and the 'illusion manuever', as it was known in the Struggle circuit, I could defeat Sora's righthand man with ease.

Riku wouldn't be fooled though he didn't wait to counter me as I had wanted him to, instead he swung straight from right to left for the centre of my body with his 2 handed sword.

I barely caught his swing and parried it, launching myself into a forward roll away from him, turning my feet so I landed facing towards him. I managed the landing, thankfully, my cloak shieled my skin from being torn at the roughness of the floor.

I charged again, this time without any illusions, just 2 Strugglers battling it out with skill, not tactics.

We clashed in the centre of the circle, our bladed grinded against one another as we fought for dominance... but he was winning, I could feel my feet slipping backwards.

I closed my eyes, steeling myself as best I could with all my energy, trying desperately to make a comeback.

Imagery flooded my mind... Sora... His face, his hair, all of him jumped to the forefront of my mind and suddenly I found the strength to fight back.

I deflected the stalemate and swung viciously at Riku, sending his sword into the air as I scored 4 rapid fire strikes to his chest, sending him flying all the way across the circle and out of it. He landed in a heap near the judges table.

The bell rang.

I knew the crowd were chanting 'HO-LY SH-IT!', 'HO-LY SH-IT!' (probably Cloud's doing, I couldn't help but chuckle at that thought), but I ignored them as always and stood in my starting position again.

Riku staggered to his feet and shuffled back to his own starting position, clearly he was less than 100 percent from the blow and landing he had taken just then, but I really didn't give a shit to be honest, he was Sora's _new_ bestfriend, and as such I hated the bastard.

The 3rd bell rang.

This time when the 2 of us met in the middle of the circle I could tell Riku's right arm was hurt, probably from the fall. So I took advantage and countered his 1st attempt at an arc with a heavy parry, causing him to cry out in pain. This was too much fun...

Spinning around in a circle I delievered all of my weight into a double, horizontal strike to the left of his body. The blows sent him flying to the floor outside the circle yet again, this time he was in a heap on the opposite side to the judges' table.

But he got back up.

Taking a deep breath he readied himself for the onslaught.

I ran towards him for what seemed like the 1000th time and aimed my weapons straight for his chest in a straight-jab-position.

But I was overconfident.

He ducked beneath my jabs and slammed his own weapon into my left side with a horizontal arc causing me to stagger.

In the blink of an eye he had spun around and smashed my chest with his 2 handed sword, this time sending me hurtling towards the ground.

I caught a glimpse of his face, his silver bangs were hanging in front of those cat-like, bright eyes, and his mouth was contorted into a viscious grin... he really thought he might have me here...

As he swung his weapon above his head, aiming a precision blow intended for some serious bodily damage, I rolled off the ground and dashed past him, catching his chest with one of my blades and his right side with the other.

_Game over, Riku._

The 4th bell rang and the crowd were screaming at the action they had just witnessed, the chants of 'HO-LY SH-IT!' and 'TH-IS IS AWE-SOME!' were still continuing. But in reailty... they hadn't seen anything yet...

Riku was picked up from the ground by Auron and carried over to the west side stands gate where he hobbled up the stairs into the crowd. I turned around and left through my entrance tunnel... shaking. Shaking because I was happy... I could finally feel happiness again, I hadn't felt it in years but I could feel it again... I think... and all because I was going to hurt Sora Leonhart... no... I was going to kill Sora Leonhart for everything he did to me... and that was why I was shaking...

 

.o0o.

 

** Normal P.O.V.: **

_10 years ago..._

_'Oh, Ashe, you've done a wonderful with Roxas' costume!' Aeris Leonhart congradulated her bestfriend on how good a much younger Roxas' first Struggle costume looked._

_In truth the costume was the exact same as his present day one, but obviously it had been tailor made for a 5 year old instead of a 15 year old._

_'Well I just thought a nice, rich black would suit the face paint he wanted perfectly!' Ashe beamed as Roxas continued to twirl in front of the mirror, admiring the black cloak and hood himself._

_Just then the sound of light footsteps could be heard as a younger Cloud and Leon walked into the Strife living room from the hallway._

_'Hey, Mom, where's th-'_

_'Aaaaahhhhhhh!' Both boys screamed as they ran out the room._

_Ashe and Aeris turned towards each other confused before realisation dawned on them._

_They turned to look at the youngest member of the Strife family (Ashe was still pregnant with Marlene at that time) who was still pulling the scary face he had just used on his older brother: his eyes were wide and he was baring his teeth menacingly._

_Roxas burst out laughing with that usual high-pitched, care free laugh he sported back then. His mother had always thought he had an adorable laugh, little did she know: within a year, that same laugh would be extinct._

_'Hey, Roxas,' Aeris began, 'why don't you go show Sora how cool you look!' She finished._

_'Ooh yeah! I hope he likes it!' Roxas responded in his then-usual incredibly happy tone._

_And off he ran to the house next door in search of Sora, who was waiting patiently for him to return._

_As Roxas crept up the stairs and eventually came to the outside of Sora's open bedroom door, an idea formed in his head... if he could scare Cloud and Leon... then Sora might pee himself!_

_Roxas stiffled his giggles and peeked inside Sora's room, catching sight of Sora doubled over looking through his toy chest on the opposite side of the room from the door, to the right of the large window and near the bed which started against the right wall of the room and jutted out into the near-centre of it._

_Creeping up behind his bestfriend, Roxas stood about an inch behind Sora, waiting for him to turn around._

_Eventually Sora did turn around..._

_And he came face to face with the colour of pure darkness._

_'Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!' Sora almost hit the ceiling as he jumped out of his skin at the sight before him._

_Meanwhile Roxas was in fits of laughter._

_A few minutes passed as Sora went from scared to 'pouting', Sora's own unique emotion that converyed annoyance, slight anger and possible upset into one facial expression._

_'Ahaha, you should have seen your face, Sora!' Roxas continued to laugh that happy laugh of his, he knew he was safe from Sora actually being angry with him because Sora often told him how his laugh 'sounded so cute he just wanted to cuddle and squeeze him!'._

_'S-s-sorry, Sora.' Roxas began as his laughing fit came to an end. 'I didn't scare you too much did I?' He asked clearly still very amused._

_Sora changed expressions within a heart beat: from pouting to a sinister look that only Roxas knew the meaning of... Roxas knew what was coming instantly as Sora's eyebrows arched downwards and he grinned an evil grin._

_A second later Sora had tackled Roxas backwards onto his bed and began tickling him relentlessly. Roxas was suddenly powerless as he tried hopelessly to stop the attack._

_After a few minutes Sora relented, giving Roxas room to breathe as he continued to straddle the blond boy._

_'You could never scare me, Roxie!' Sora chirped happily at the still wheezing Roxas._

_'Oh yeah?' The blond gasped out whilst recovering._

_'Yep! You're just too cute!' Was all Sora said before he rolled over, taking Roxas with him so the 2 landed side by side on Sora's bed._

_Sora pulled Roxas as close as possible into a tight hug as Roxas recovered fully. And the 2 of them lay like that for hours as the sky turned from blue to orange and Aeris called them down for dinner. Relucantly they both got off the bed and trodded off to find their promised dinner, still holding hands with one another._

_Sora halted Roxas at his bedroom door, turned on his heel and gave his bestfriend a quick peck on the left cheek. 'Love ta Roxie!' He smiled at the blond with all the happiness in the world._

_Roxas' cheeks flushed red just as Sora's had as he returned with a quick kiss of his own to Sora's right cheek. 'Love you too, Scaredy Cat!' Roxas then bolted out the door and down the stairs giggling manically as Sora chased after him with that evil grin on his face once again._

.o0o.

 

** Sora's P.O.V.: **

_Present Day..._

Riku hadn't come back yet.

I was getting kind of worried now, I'd heard the 4th bell of his match ring ages ago and I only had another minute before Auron came to get me for the final... either Riku was celebrating with the crowd or Kairi.

Probably the latter, I loved those 2 guys with all my heart. Well as much heart as I could give, after all a large portion of that had a 'reserved for Roxas Strife' sign on it. And I really wished that one day he would come and take that sign away and be with me. Tears burnt down my cheeks as I thought about him but I didn't pay attention to them, after all, I cried over him at least once a day so I was very used to the wet, slightly burning feeling.

Back to Riku and Kairi though, enough Roxas for now, I would save him for when I had to go to sleep later tonight, maybe imagine I went to visit him in Twilight Town and he was showing me his favourite places or something...

_Anyway! Stop thinking about him!_

_I can't help it!_

_Stop it! What were you thinking about Riku and Kairi?_

They were my bestfriends but to be honest I was getting sick of being a 3rd wheel, I kind of wanted someone new to be friends with, I would never ditch them or anything... just, you know for when they're making out gets too out of hand or whatever... but that wouldn't happen, no one new would come into my life today, I knew that for sure.

Some horrible cheerleader had once laughed at me when I turned down her advances, asking if I had 3 ways with Riku and Kairi. I had walked away from her without looking back, gone into the boys' room and thrown up in the toilet at that thought.

Why?

Well because if there was one thing I hated more than anything on a person's body it was boobs. In all seriousness I hated them so much, and that mental picture of the 3 of us... disgusted me so badly I had to heave up my lunch.

So was I gay?

Not really, I mean, the thought of a penis disgusted me less than boobs did by a long shot, probably because I had one myself. But in reality I didn't get a boner from anything, not boobs, not penises (penises...penii? That was a whole separate issue though), and certainly not vaginas... Actually, I hated those more than boobs, Riku showed me a picture of one when we were 13 to 'see if I was gay', as he put it, and _that_ had made me vomit for months afterwards whenever I imagined it... it just looked so disgusting! Now the thought only made me naucious all these years later thank God.

Actually I was lying in my own subconscious thoughts again... I did get arroused by... something-

'Sora!' Auron's voice boomed, blowing my inner ramblings to smitherines, probably for the best seeing as I was about to admit my biggest secret in the world to myself...

I opened the cubicle door having gotten up from my prone position on the bench.

'Where's Riku?' I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Auron fangs were showing... not a good sign.

'He got his ass handed to him unfortunately, 14-3.'

I was shocked.

'H-how could someone beat Riku-'

'As badly as you can?' He grinned his wolfish grin as he finished my question. 'Why don't you open your eyes amd see the truth for yourself, Sora?' He continued to grin.

I marched straight past him and began heading down the entrance tunnel.

'I don't care who beat him, Coach, all I know is that there's no way I'll let this guy beat me!' I glared at nothing but the distance of the tunnel in front of me.

'Ordinarily I would never doubt you, Sora, you know that.' Auron began.

'But...?' I added for him.

'You've beaten everyone in the region, there's no one you haven't destroyed left in Destiny Islands.'

'Exactly! So I don't care who it is, whether it's Tidus, Snow or even Fuu, I'll beat whichever one of them it is!'

'I'll give you a clue since you are my personal favourite of course.' I smiled because I knew I was the Coach's favourite and hearing him admit it was one of those once in a lifetime moments. 'It's no one you've ever faced before but it's someone you know better than anyone. Use that to your advantage... because you won't have any in this fight, not even you're big Struggling, mysterious secret. And stay focused.'

'W-what? W-who?'

But Auron left me knee deep in my questions as he exited through the curtain and went to call my name.

I heard _This Fire Burns_ kick into life again for the 4th time this evening.

The opening guitar riff cut through the air and I heard the screams and the shouts:

'LEON-HART!'

'LEON-HART!'

But I didn't listen to them as usual because I was getting into the zone, remembering that promise I made to Roxas... I brought my wedding necklace up to my forehead and let the cool metal lie against my skin for a few seconds as I inhaled deeply before exhaling.

_I don't know who this mysterious guy is, Roxie, but I'll beat him for you... for us._

_Yeeeeaaaaahhhh!_

_Yeah._

_All I've ever wanted was destiny to be fulfilled,_

_it is in my hands, I must not fail,_

_I must not fail._

The guitar chords sounded and the curtain was flung open before me as I made my way to my starting position facing the southern entrance tunnel, completely focused on that doorway... waiting for whoever would appear from it.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, the champion of the retired under 14 Destiny Islands regional league and current holder of the winning streak: TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE TO ZERO...' The crowd roared over Auron's massive voice. 'Ladies and Gentlement, I give you: SORA LEONHART!' Auron boomed as the crowd exploded before me.

_Even through the darkest days,_

_this fire burns, always._

_this fire burns, always._

_This is the broken ground_

_Misery begins to rise._

_Turn away from yesterday,_

_tomorrow's in my eyes._

_Nevermore to be held down_

_by the wings of history._

_Nevermore to be cast aside,_

_this day is mine._

_Even through the darkest days,_

_this fire burns, always._

_this fire burns, always._

_I will not be denied_

_in this final hour._

_I will not be denied,_

_this day is mine._

_The passion inside me,_

_is burning, is burning._

_The passion inside me,_

_is burning, is burning._

_Even through the darkest days,_

_this fire burns always (always)._

_This fire burns (fire burns) always._

_Always (always)._

My entrance song had finished playing and so had the minitron video of my 'greatest moments' but nothing had happened. I was nervous before but now I was getting unsettled... every fight I had ever had consisted of my music playing, me entering, waiting for the music to stop about 30 seconds later... but it hadn't... they never played the whole song during an entrance, not even showboaters got away with that, yet my favourite song had just finished playing and it wasn't exactly short either...

 

.o0o.

 

Okay I was trembling visibly now, I understood what Auron had meant when he said this would be a different experience with no advantages on my side...

I looked over to RIku and Kairi in the western stands, they had seats second row on my half of the Arena. I was glad I had spotted them a few minutes ago, usually I never looked at the stands, but I was really getting confused about just what the hell was going on, Auron was just sat there smiling, was there something he wasn't telling me?

My bestfriends just shrugged back at me, clearly this wasn't a planned event in the evening.

But it had been between 5 and 10 minutes now this was getting ridiculous... I had been focused on that doorway beforehand, but now I was distracted as hell... how could I not be distracted right now?

_'And stay focused.'_

Obeying Auron's last order I refocused my attention on that doorway... waiting for whoever was behind its curtain.

A familiar guitar riff cut through the massive murmurings and speculations of the audiemce.

_Yeeeeaaaaahhhh!_

_Yeah._

_All I've ever wanted was destiny to be fulfilled,_

_it is in my hands, I must not fail,_

_I must not fail._

The song played through another time, leaving the crowd irate, aggitated and in suspence... what the hell was going on?

The minitron suddnely turned bright white and the guitar riff cut through the audience yet again, making them silent.

_Yeeeeaaaaahhhh!_

_Yeah._

_All I've ever wanted was destiny to be fulfilled,_

_it is in my hands, I must not fail,_

_I must not fail._

The string of chords sounded. My limbs were trembling... I was scared... scared because of the uncertainty in my heart... what if I couldn't beat whoever this mysterious person was... and I broke my promise...?

A figure appeared from the door and I felt my heart beat like a rapidly struck drum, thumping up and down in my chest.

The figure was exaclty my height and cloaked from head to toe in black, stealing all light from around him. I felt a deep chill resonate throughout my body as I looked upon the figure and his hood, the hood itself seemed to glare back at me... in fact, the whole figure before me seemed to eminate something strange... was it power? I could tell whoever the figure was they were at least akin to myself at Struggling, I could sense that about them.

Or was it something else? I think it was something else I could sense... no... feel... I could feel something coming from them... hatred... I identified what I was feeling and it was pure, black hatred, thick enough that the figure may as well have been an incarnation of hatred itself... I could feel so much hate flowing from them... but also... sorrow, hurt, pain, grief, every negative emotion possible was what I was feeling, all topped off with hatred as its epicentre... but why did whoever the figure was feel this way? I could also sense that I was the object of these emotions and feelings... but why me? The costume rang some distant bell in my mind... but what bell was it ringing and why?

The crowd was electric as they screamed for the figure:

'THIR-TEEN!'

'THIR-TEEN!'

And the minitron stood as still and white as ever... who the hell was this person?

 _My_ song finished playing yet again before Auron spoke, the figure just stood there looking at me with his dual swords raised towards me, he looked ready to kill. I still had my 2 handed weapon limp by my right side... who could blame me for being a bit out of it?

'Now Ladies and Gentlemen, since this final fight will decide your Destiny Islands High School Struggle Team Captain, I shall as Thirteen to kindly remove his cloak and hood so that we can see who it is that has surpassed almost all of our best and brightest!'

The crowd roared in assent of Auron's words.

The wolf-like man himself strode across the Arena and placed his had on the left shoulder of the figure.

'Ladies and Gentlemen! I have the honour of introducing you to a new student here at Destiny Islands High School, the owner of a record of his own: TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE TO ZERO, the very same exact record as our own Sora Leonhart!'

Who the hell was this person...?

'He is also the last champion of the retired under 14 Twilight Town Struggle League!'

Twilight Town...?

'Ladies and Gentlemen! I! Give! You!'

...Who...

'Roxas Strife!' Auron roared as the black cloak and hood of the figure flew backwards to the ground.

My limbs went numb, my breathing caught, my throat went dry and my heart stopped.

Before me stood a boy my height with spiky, golden hair dressed in a combat vest and trouser combo that were just as black as his boots, cloak and hood.

And I couldn't breathe as I just stared at him.

I was dreaming.

This was an illusion.

Sun stroke, illness, fever, anything, but this wasn't real and I knew it. It couldn't be.

And yet that boy I saw earlier near the entrance gates... and Auron's cryptic clues...

It was him.

Roxas.

My Roxas... my Roxie was here.

My mouth was still hanging open in shock and I couldn't shut it seeing as how my whole body was numb... I was even blind and deaf to the shrieking audience, half cheering for me, half cheering for Roxas as he handed his golden championship belt to Auron.

All that mattered at that moment was Roxas and I, we were alone in our own world within the Struggle circle.

And I could only watch as his sinister glare and grin contorted from a manic smile into a sentence:

'Do I scare you now, Sora?'

I couldn't even comprehend his words before I heard a distant bell sound.

My sword arm was still numb as the boy of my dreams bolted towards me, his swords dancing in the air as he prepared to strike.

Before I could move my chest erupted into white, hot pain in 3 places as I went flying backwards and landed roughly on the ground.

He had followed me though and as I knelt on 1 knee ready to receive the final blow...

_Maybe this was how it was meant to be..._

Roxas struck with his blades towards me, aiming for a killing blow I could tell by how hard he had struck me earlier (I would have large bruises tomorrow for sure). However, the inner Struggler in me took over and I raised my 2 handed sword above my head, blocking the vicious blows.

But my very bestfriend in the whole world wouldn't relent and my weak defence was bombarded blow after blow as I could feel him pounding away at my weapon. So much anger... so much hatred in each blow.

'Sora! Come on! Fight back!' I heard 2 voices call from outside Roxas and I's private world, I recognised them as the voices of Riku and Kairi.

I looked up as the blows suddenly stopped to see Roxas' face contorted into a nasty snarl, I would have called it ugly the way he twisted his face but my Roxie was beautiful, not ugly and I could never call him something like that anyway.

Roxas' gorgeous deep sea blue eyes bulged with anger towards my 2 friends... even more anger than I had seen him look at me with... there was something behind that look he was giving them, almost as if they were his real object of hatred... not me.

But I didn't waste anymore time (even if I could have stared at that face all day long), I leapt up while Roxas was very clearly distracted and smashed my weapon into his chest with a powerful 2 handed thrust, making him reel backwards.

Fine. If he wanted to play rough, I could play rough.

But... he was still glaring at Riku and Kairi, I don't think he even recognised that I had hit him pretty damn hard.

He took a few steps forward... was he... was he going to go over to them? In the middle of a fight what the hell was he doing?

Without wasting any time I clevered his back with my blade, earning a highish pitched grunt (his voice was still as high as mine... I knew it would sound incredible to hear him talk now).

Drawing my weapon back above my head I reigned 2 further blows down hard onto the centre of his back between his shoulder blades, to be honest, I was more trying to get his attention than anything else as he hadn't ceased from his strides towards my 2 friends.

In a final attempt to gain his attention back I swung my blade low and swept him onto the floor by smacking his shins.

It worked. He fell hard on the floor, rolling back over to the other side of the circle away from me.

6-6. Roxas glanced up at the minitron above me, he saw the score of the first round and something must have clicked in that golden, beautiful head of his because those hate filled eyes rounded back on me and he barred his teeth in an adorable scowl.

Adorable? Yeah... even after all these years he still looked the same to me I guess...

We circled around each other several times... daring the other to attack first, whoever scored the next point won the round and officially shattered the other's round streak... and then the real win streak would soon follow...

We were stalling, I could tell he was just as nervous as me with how his exposed forearms and slender biceps shook as he circled opposite me...

I didn't waste anymore time. It had been 10 years nearly, enough time had been wasted.

I leapt towards him as he leapt towards me, our blades met with a horrendous clashing noise that echoed through the crowd's noise, you weren't meant to hear noises like that from Struggle weapons these days... _that_ is how hard we were striking against each other.

Our blades also met with his in an 'X' shape, trying to block my downwards slash. We struggled against one another, desperate to gain the upper hand, but neither one of us could manage it, it seemed we both had the same upper body strength as well... weird.

I pulled back my blade and ducked down whilst spinning trying to arc from right to left at his mid section but to my surprise he not only dodged the blow that would have ended anyone else, he did a freaking front flip over my blade.

Roxas landed a few metres over my shoulder on his feet and charged at me again before I could fully compose myelf, the crowd had gasped at his athletic feat and began to cheer for him fully.

He attempted a pincer attack with his blades, cutting from left to right and right to left at the same time, but I was too fast. I limboed fully under his blades into a crab position and launched off my feet into backwards somersaults across the Arena circle.

I landed on the opposite end to him. We just glared at each other as the audience gasped yet again and then began cheering for me fully. Eventually our stalemate led them into supporting us equally though... this is why I didn't really like those fakes who pretended to be my friend, they would jump ship the second things look bad and then suddenly jump back onboard when I did something to even the score... pathetic... I knew for a fact Riku, Kairi and my family wouldn't have started chanting Roxas' name just because he did a backflip.

We charged at each other yet again, meeting in the middle and trading horrificly powerful blow for equally, horrificly powerful blow, where I swung left he hit right and where I smashed right he parried left. Up for down, down for up, diagonal for somersault, downwards smash for backflip.

It. Just. Kept. Going.

 

.o0o.

 

Each Struggle round is meant to last 1 minute exactly with a 2 minute final round being acceptable if it's a stalemate after 1 minute.

Right now we had entered into our 29th minute. Twenty nine fucking minutes. And it was still the 1st round. Still 6-6.

Both Roxas and I were beyond sweating, both of us had bangs stuck to our foreheads from the onslaught of it. Not only that, but we were both a deep purple colour from head to toe by this point, panting so heavily we could hardly breathe. And to top it all off our blows had become incredibly weak and slow.

For the first 10 minutes we had been hitting hard enough to kill each other, but after that point we began to get tired... really tired...

As our swords clashed once again we were both leaning into each other for support... we could barely stand...

Our faces were practically touching as his left ear hung just to the left of my eyes.

'I see you replaced me.' I heard the voice I had imagined so many times in my mind speak to me.

'I could never replace you, Roxie!' I spat back at him as we both continued what would be our final battle for power in this round... I could tell.

'You certainly tried though, didn't you, _Sora_.' The way he said my name embodied all the hatred I had sensed earlier. 'And my name isn't 'Roxie', it's 'Roxas'.

I was about to protest when all of a sudden a bell rang.

Before I knew it Auron had forced Roxas and I apart and had given each of us our championship belts back.

'Ladies and Gentlemen! Although this match was extended by 29 minutes we still have no winner... unfortunately due to a stalemate rule, both fighters have lost this match!'

The crowd gasped audiably.

'Meaning that both Sora Leonhart and Roxas Strife have lost their records to one another! Let the record books state that they are both equally phenomenal champions: TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE TO ONE each!'

'They are also the first ever 'co-captians' of Destiny Islands High School's Struggle team! Please give them your applause for an unforgettable and spectacular match!' Auron roared as he raised our hands and the audience gave us a standing ovation, chanting our names over and over again equally.

I turned to look at Roxas but he was gone... already disappearing through the entrance curtain. Without thinking I tore after him, because he was here. He was really here.

He was my co-captain and best friend.

And he was really here.

 


	6. Ten Years

** Normal P.O.V.: **

_Just under 10 years ago..._

_The sound of gentle sobbing echoed throughout Sora Leonhart's baby-blue walled room. Beneath the covers of his comforter two boys aged 6 lay huddled together, crying their eyes out. Just a few hours ago Aeris and Ashe had called Roxas and Sora to the Leonhart living room, explaining to the boys that Roxas and his family were going to move across country to Twilight Town within the next month._

_Naturally, this was the end of the world._

_'W-we cou-could just hide you, Roxie.' Sora choked out, his small words muffled by the blond spikes he had snuggled his face against._

_Roxas didn't reply, he only continued to cry._

_Sora wrapped his arms even more tightly around the blond boy that was his whole world, afraid he would slip away any sooner than he was already destined to. The brunet began to shake, his vehement tears wracking his body._

_'Sora...' Roxas began pulling his head back from the shoulder of the other._

_'Y-yeah...?' Sora managed to reply opening his eyes, revealing two blood-shot, yet magnificent, sky-blue eyes. The tears continued to rage down his cheeks._

_Roxas had stopped crying and now focused his equally blood-shot, yet fantastic ocean-blue eyes on the boy that he loved more than anything._

_'Never, ever, forget how much I love you, Sora.' Roxas began._

_'Roxie! How could I forget that?' Sora exclaimed._

_'Just promise me, Sora, 'kay?'_

_'I promise, Roxie. But only if you promise to never, ever, ever, ever, EVER forget how much I love you!'_

_'I promise, Sora.' Roxas agreed, giving his bestfriend a reassuring smile... to Sora, a smile from Roxas could do nothing but make the world seem perfect, so he ceased crying and proceeded to kiss his other half with every single ounce of love he had in his being, and to Roxas, those innocent, child-like pecks on his lips put all thoughts of moving out of his mind as he began to return the gesture._

_Hours later, long after the sun had reached its peak, and twilight loomed over Destiny Islands, the two boys emerged from their own private world under the comforter._

_Padding down the 2nd floor hallway of the Leonhart household, they made their way down the stairs, hand in hand all the way._

_Leon had left the TV on the Struggle Network, and since the youngest Leonhart male and his blond counter-part had been Struggling for a year now, the two decided to settle on one of the leather sofas that adorned the sitting room and watch 'The World Struggle Series'._

_As one of the hellacious contests came to a close between two fierce fighters who had already been eliminated, the coverage cut to commercial, advertising the final of the World Series..._

_'Coming this Sunday...' A deep, booming voice began the advertisement, 'two former bestfriends and tag team champions will face each other, one on one in a no-strikes-barred contest. The winner will be crowned the greatest Struggler not only in the world... but of all time, two men enter undefeated... but only one can leave with his streak intact.' Both boys were mesmerised by the commercial, Sora, who was sat on Roxas' lap, had ceased kissing his bestfriend on the cheek (and that was not an easy thing to stop either boy from doing to one another). The voice continued, 'See: The Master of Despair, Sephiroth, take on: The Silver Nightmare, Setzer in this once in a lifetime contest, between two former bestfriends, reunited to decide who is the greatest of all time!' The commercial finished as Sora jumped up and flicked off the TV._

_The brunet ran back over to his blond friend with a gigantic smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye._

_'You okay, Sora?' Roxas asked with a raised eyebrow, slightly concerned about his bestfriend's sudden mood swing._

_'Roxie, don't ya get it!' Sora almost shrieked._

_'Get what?' Roxas asked, his eyebrow unmoving._

_'Think, Roxie!' Sora returned._

_'Says you!' Roxas giggled, gently tapping a knuckle on Sora's head, earning him one of the pouts that he desperately loved. 'Hehe, was jokin', Sora.' Roxas declared before pulling Sora into a deep, loving cuddle back on his lap; Sora's body landed perfectly in place with Roxas' as always, the two were perfect for each other in every possible way._

_Sora of course wasn't offended, he just knew that 'pouting equals hug off Roxie'._

_Pulling himself back up so he was sitting on Roxas' lap facing him, Sora gazed into his friend's eyes._

_'The show said that those two guys are gonna fight each other Roxie.' Sora began_

_'So?'_

_'It said they were 'bestfriends' and that they were re..re..re..umm...'_

_'Reunited?' Roxas finished for his beloved. Then Sora's idea clicked. 'Sora you're a genius!' Roxas shouted, tackling his bestfriend from his lap to the floor, luckily the carpet was made of a plush, soft ,cream fibre and the landing was smooth._

_Roxas proceeded to pepper kisses across his bestfriend's face, causing Sora to giggle happily, nothing made him happier than kisses from his Roxie._

_'So all we gotta do is never get beaten and win Struggle all the time, then we can be 'reunited'!' Sora finished voicing his complete plan even though Roxas had understood. 'Promise it too, Roxie, promise that no matter where we go, we'll always win at Struggle, 'kay?'._

_'Promise.' Roxas stated with a smile from his position atop Sora._

_'Good! I promise too!' Sora returned with his own smile._

_A sinister grin suddenly swept across Roxas' angelic face._

_'What ya planning, Roxie...?' Sora had seen that devilish grin before. 'Uh oh...'._

_Before he could blink, Sora was assaulted by a barrage of tickles from his other half, and soon a fully fledged tickle war was under way as the boys continued to go about their usual business with one another... choosing to ignore the impending end of the world, and keeping their secret promise and the hope that came with it locked within their hearts._

.o0o.

 

Present Day...

** Roxas' P.O.V.: **

I had done it.

I had destroyed Sora Leonhart.

His pathetic record, his pathetic Struggle career, _our_ pathetic promise. All of it, destroyed.

Since I had already packed up my things before I went out to face my worst nightmare, I simply picked up my bags and made a quick exit out of the changing rooms. Cloud and I had also planned for him to pick me up ASAP after the match from the front of school - I didn't want to be anywhere near that bastard for longer than I needed to ruin his life...

_Just like he ruined mine..._

My thoughts of triumph had carried me around the east side of the school and down towards the entrance gates.

'Excuse me.' A feminie voice came from my flank.

I turned to see who this non-Sora intruder was. A girl stepped out from the shadows sporting a cheerleading costume: a white vest top with 'DI' embroided in gold on the front and a light-blue cheer skirt. This particular cheerleader was wearing her skirt with the intention to show off as much leg as possible... she fucking disgusted me, there was nothing I found more unattractive than sluts in slutty clothes, Twilight Town had been full of girls and guys like that, and I hated each and every one of them (not as much as that bastard though, I hated him more than I could ever hate anything).

The cheerleader who stood a forehead shorter than me with blonde hair that had been dyed red looked me straight in the eyes, green, venomous pupils matching my own.

'Shiki Jones, cheerleading captain for Destiny Islands High.'

'Umm, great... nice to... meet you I guess, I have to run thou-'

'Shut up and listen to me right now you _Struggle_ (she spat the name) fag!' Fuck I hated everyone in this city already.

'Who do you think you ar-'

'My name is Shiki Jones, I'm the most popular girl in this school, I'm also cheer captain and head of the girls' hockey and netball teams. Do you know what all of those things make me, Roxas?'

'I get the feeling you're gonna tell me even though I don't actually give a shit, _Shiki_.' I spat back at her.

'Hmph.' She wasn't impressed by someone standing up to her clearly. 'Those things, _Roxas._ She spat with distaste, 'make me the most desirable girl in this city, and after your performance tonight, you, would be a good piece of arm candy for me to be seen with and then dump in public.'

Was she deranged?

'Right, well, like I said, nice to meet you Shiki, now kindly leave me alone, I don't date slags.' I returned to her with as much disgust in my voice as possible.

Her stare was intense. I could tell I had misjudged her slightly, she wasn't a stupid bimbo like the cheerleaders from Twilight Town, Shiki Jones was a calculating, malicious bimbo, and I could already tell I had made another enemy besides Bastardhart (the invention of this nickname made me laugh on the inside).

Her expression changed, she took a step forwards, closing the distance between us from about 5ft to 2ft.

'I'll let you go to 3rd base with me, Roxas...' She said in an incredibly fake, attempting-to-be-seductive voice as she ran her hands over where her boobs pushed against the vest material of her cheer top. She even bit her lip to try and add to the picture.

'I don't date slags.' I scoffed at her as I repeated my words. 'I don't date anyone I'm not in love with, actually, and I can tell you right now, _Shiki_ , that I will never, ever, love you, therefore, I must apologise, because I won't be your arm candy and public dumpee.' I gave the best fake toothy grin I could give and turned on my heel, continuing my journey to meet Cloud.

'You'll regret this, Roxas, you faggot!' I heard Shiki scream from somewhere behind me.

_Call me all the names you want you slutty bitch._

Clearly she had hoped that my success against Bastardhart would springboard her popularity even higher if she latched onto and then humiliated me... Too bad for her I could only ever date someone I loved, and besides that girls weren't appealing to me in the slightest.

Unfazed and already forgetting my encounter with Shik..Shika...I was already drawing a blank on her name... I rounded the corner of the school main building towards the central quad.

Just as I passed the cherry blossom trees I heard Fenrir's beastial engine round the corner and soon enough Isaw Cloud's smiling face waiting for me beyond the entrance gates.

'Way t'go, Rox.' Cloud spoke, ruffling my spikes as I mounted the bike behind him.

'Urgh, ger'off.' Shaking my head to combat his ruffles (god I hated people touching my hair!).

'Heh.' He chuckled in response, 'let's get out of here before young master Leonhart comes chasing after us.

'He'll be too busy picking up the pieces of his miserable existence now that he's lost his Struggle record!' I shouted over the engine with glee.

'Aren't you bothered about losing your own record, Rox?' Cloud returned.

'Nope!' I smiled, why would I be? I had already lost the boy I Struggled for years ago when he was replaced by that heartless Bastardhart imposter.

'If you say so, but you kno-'

'Know?' I tried to finish for Cloud as he was about to pull off the curb.

I looked to the right, back through the school gates following Cloud's intense gaze, and there, passing the cherry blossom trees half way across the quad, was Bastardhart, sprinting straight towards us, I could even see the ridiculously gigantic grin spread across his face. I felt my blood turn cold and my arms fall from Cloud's body, completely numb.

_Why isn't he crying? Why isn't he in agony over his stupid, fucking Struggle record?_

'Let's ride.' Cloud dead-panned over the engine.

Cloud gathered my fallen arms back around his mid section as he pulled out of his spot on the curb and raced away down the street, journying home.

I was too immobilised to even mock Cloud for his ridiculous 'let's ride' one-liner...

 

.o0o.

 

** Sora's P.O.V.: **

I didn't care I was exhausted from Struggling.

I didn't care I was purple in the face from running.

I didn't care my limbs cried out in pain at the strain I was putting them through.

Roxas. Roxas. Roxas, Roxas, Roxas. That's what I cared about.

I had to find him, where the hell did he run off to?

I had chased him down the entrance tunnel but he was too fast for me... _was he running from me?_ I furrowed my sweat-ridden eyebrows.

_If he's here in Destiny Islands, he can't run from me. I will find him, I won't stop until I do._

Then it hit me.

_The car park! Maybe his family were here too! And everyone else had kept in contact with the Strife family over the years so maybe they would be together!_

As I crossed the school campus I saw a furious looking Slutty Jones, ahem, I mean Shiki Jones storming away from the side of the main building heading back towards the other cheerslags, I mean leaders...

_Good! Hopefully someone else she cried getting her claws into has rejected her! No one had done that since Riku and I had laughed in her face when she offered us 3rd base in return for dating and then dumping us... I couldn't believe she would even think to try and make Riku cheat on Kairi, Riku would never do that, cheaters were the worst kind of people imaginable in my eyes, well, alongside sluts like Shiki Jones. Shiki had hated our guts ever since. And I had Roxie-_

'Sora!' My thoughts were interputed by my brother's deep voice.

I turned to see Leon and my Dad standing next to the red family car. I slowed down and jogged over to them.

'You were great, Sor.' My Dad voiced, giving a gentle pat to my shoulder. His smile told me he was proud of me, but I didn't have time for that right now.

'Thanks, Dad! You saw Roxas right. Where is he? Have you seen him? He's was awesome, wasn't he!'

Leon facepalmed and shook his head chuckling, 'told ya that was all he would go on about.'

I ignored him.

'Leon. He's here! He's in the Islands! Does that mean he's back? Oh but if he Struggled today then he must be at the school too!' I didn't even realise how fast I was blabbering on.

'Sora calm dow-' My Dad tried to pace me whilst joining in Leon's chuckling.

'Ooh! Ooh! I could show him around all the city again, he hasn't been here for years! Oh the beach, that's where I'll take him first, we used to love going to the beach! No wait, the arcade, he'll love the arcade here it's huge!' I continued my tirade using my arms to extrapolate my words.

'Sora. Caaaaalm.' My Dad attempted.

'You're right, Dad!' Dad looked almost surprised, thinking his words had worked.

'He needs to unpack first! I'll help him! Oh and he's probably tired from Struggling all day! And getting used to a new school! I knew I had seen him earlier! Riku called me crazy for it, but I _knew_ it!' I couldn't help but giggle slightly manically from the world of prospects opening up before me now that Roxas was back, bestfriends reunited!

'Well, maybe tomorro-' Dad tried.

''Tomorrow!'' I exclaimed, quoting his almost completed word.

'Yeah, maybe tomorro-' Leon tried as well.

'No, no! _Today_! it's been 10 years of 'tomorrows', Leon!' I continued to exclaim in joy. ' _Today_ is the day!'

I was probably causing a massive scene right now... did I give a fuck? None at all.

'Where is Roxie? How come he's not here with you guys? Or his family where are they? Where abouts do they live now? You guys must know, right? Wait! Did you know about this before day?' Their guilty looks betrayed them. 'You did! How come no one told me? Roxie comes back and no one tells me! That's not fair! Come on how come no one to-'

'Woah, woah, slow down, Kid.' I heard an unknown, yet very familiar voice say from behind me. 'You and Rox still can't one up each other after all these years, huh? One hell of a fight that one was though, might even tape the news replay later.' I heard the voice speak again before I felt a different hand clasp my left shoulder, I smelt the familiar smell of cigarettes, a smell that I associated with one man from my distant childhood. Cid Strife.

The dirty blond-haired man, now with crow's feet and more wrinkles, standing a few inches taller than me at my Dad's height, continued to walk around my left side, lifting his hand off my shoulder to take a drag on the cigarette that he kept behind his right ear... just like the old days when our parents would sit in our families' joint garden and talk whilst me and Roxie played with Leon and Cloud...

'...Mr Strife...' Was all I could say as all the dreams I had of Roxas returning to the Islands seemed to be so much more true now that his Dad stood before me in the flesh, not just one of my fantasies where Roxas and his family suddenly rock up here for now real reason... those were my dreams though, and they were coming true in reality... I couldn't really believe it...

'Some call me Cid, Little Leonhart. Less words to say.'

'...Right, uh, Cid' Leon snorted at my hesitence,'so, um Roxie, he's really here then?' I questioned myself without knowing why... maybe I just couldn't believe he was here.

'You tell me, Kid.' CId puffed on his cigarette, amused by my question.

'I saw him... I fought him... but is any of this for real... or not?'

'Oh for goodness sake, Sora.' My Dad said, shaking his head. 'Have a little belief in yourself.'

_How can I when I've been wrong so many times before..._

'If you wanna see for yourself, Cloud's picking him up by the front gates in about...' he checked his watch, '...now.' He dead-panned.

'Thanks!' I shouted behind me, my feet had already taken me towards the front gates before Cid uttered the words...

'Sora! Aren't don't you care about your record?' Dad shouted at me as I ran off.

'Huh? What record?' Then it clicked. 'Oh, nah it doesn't matter anymore, Roxie came back!'  I responded, tearing off at full speed towards Roxas' location, I don't think I had ever gone this fast before in my life.

Before I was out of ear shot I heard one last thing from Leon: '10 years of Struggling, gone, and he doesn't care?'

_The whole point of that was so mine and Roxie's promise came true and he came back to Destiny Islands! And it worked! And people thought I could be dense, sheeesh!_

Rounding the corner of the main building, I saw him.

Beautiful blond spikes attached to a body walking out of the front gates towards a motorbike with a rider on it. It was him.

I had hesitated for a moment to look at his back from afar, but then I tore onwards, my legs screaming in agony, I reached the cherry blossoms in seconds, he turned towards me, he was still too far for me to see those ocean eyes of his, I sped up. Just as I reached the gates the motorbike raced away from me and down the street, around a corner, and then out of sight. He was gone. Again.

I felt my body shake as tears threatened to burst from my eyes. Luckily I saw our car heading towards me from my left and as soon as it pulled onto the curb in front of me I hopped in...

_Maybe we could follow them and find out where Roxas lives?_

All thoughts of crying disappeared immediately at that idea...

_How could I have forgotten? Roxas had to have enrolled at school to Struggle today, so that means he lives here! Hmm, okay maybe 'Silly Sora' was an accurate nickname... Agh admitting Sarah was right was never an easy thing to do!_

'Better fasten your seatbelt, Kid.'

My head shot up from where it had been hanging and I locked eyes with Cid Strife for a second time.

'M-Mr Strife... I mean... Cid!' I corrected myself.

Cid laughed heartily, 'Ya kid makes me laugh, Zack.'

'Oh shut up and play nice.' Dad retorted.

'Ah yeah, still the sensitive one, eh, Sora?' I didn't know how to respond... was I sensitive?

'Just like my Roxas... you kids always were a two piece jigsaw.' He half-smiled as he turned his attention to the road we were driving down.

_Oh well if I'm like Roxas then being sensitive must be the a good thing!_

Roxas was perfect when we were younger, and I bet he still was now.

Roxas... I let my thoughts of him consume my mind for the rest of the journey...

_When will we meet? Where does he live? What should we do together first?_

These questions drowned out the conversation and laughter between Leon, Dad and Cid, I wasn't even paying attention to where we were until I heard a loud click and realised the car had stopped.

'Thanks for the ride, Bud, I'll see you guys at eight for some beers.'

'Sounds good, Cid, cya then.' My Dad responded, I could hear the joy in his voice at the prospect of plans with his bestfriend... I couldn't wait to make some plans with _my_ bestfriend... I was seriously giddy at the thought, this time laughter threatened to erupt from me rather than tears.

'You comin', Sora, or are you thinking about a certain blond-haired boy again?' My Brother winked at me.

'Huh, oh yeah...' I stepped out of the car.

_Wait, we only just dropped Cid off, how can we be home already? Shit, I missed where Roxas lives now!_

Having been on the right side of the car in the back I was now facing my house after shutting the door. I remained standing on the driveway situated on the right handside of our home.

'Wanna come over now or you just gonna bang on the door 'til it falls down later, Kid?' I heard Cid's voice call from behind me.

I shot around and saw Cid standing under the sheltered porch of the neighbouring house, hand ready on the handle to open the front door. He was smiling, very amused at my complete bewilderment.

My eyes darted between Cid Strife, the black motorbike parked in the left handside driveway and the house that I still remembered better than my own at times, despite having not been inside it for nearly 10 years.

My heart pulsed and the blood pounded throughout my body, I could feel the sweat across my brow and the harsh adrenaline beginning to kick in. My mouth was dry and my tongue seemed too big for it as I found myself unable to reply to Cid's question, instead I only stammered and stuttered without forming words...

'Tell ya what, why don't you go collect yourself first, you might wanna be able to speak before you come 'n' see Rox.' He suggested also winking at me before continuing on his way inside what was apparently once again the Strife household.

_Why was everyone winking at me? First Leon and now Cid... urgh, weirdoes. Besides, I don't care about that, I care about Roxie!_

I recovered myself after what seemed like a lifetime and stode forward towards the former and, for whatever reason, current Strife residence. But I was still sweating like hell, in fact my hair was becoming slightly drenched... it did nothing to disturb my naturally very pointy pointed hair though, but I guessed it looked slightly greasey now...

My palms were sweating too, and my legs were... _oh god did I have sweat patches from Struggling?_ I stopped to check.

Yep. I had sweat patches... Perfect I must look awful...

But I continued onwards, reaching the large Strife driveway.

_I think my throats dry, what if my voice sounds hoarse? Shit I don't want that... I don't want the first time I talk to Roxie in almost a decade to be like that... I wanna ask him questions, get to know him... he must have changed a little over the years... and since he's my bestfriend I need to be able to answer all of his questions... he must have some for me too..._

I was stepping across their porch, poised and ready to press the doorbell... my finger was a centimetre away from it. Catching my reflection I could tell that my face was still covered in the sweat from Struggling... and then the running... and my eyes were red and puffy from losing Roxas at the gates... my hair was messy, more so than normal... ordinarily my spikes were an ordered chaos, but right now it was just chaos...

No. Not yet... Cid was right, I would go and collect myself first. I had waited 10 years for this, every single day of those 10 years spent waiting and hoping to see Roxie again, I would not fuck it all up by being a messy, sweaty weirdo.

_A shower, change of clothes and some grooming first... then I'll go see Roxie!_

The thought made me ecstatic!

Turning around I walked back towards my house and entered through the unlocked front door at the end of our porch, but not before I took one more glance at the Strife homestead, reminding myself to look the best I've ever looked before I return to knock on its door.

I could hear the voice of the news anchors recounting details from some Struggle match that had happened at some point today, but I was really interested in that, I was interested in Roxas. Roxas, Roxas, Roxas!

I let out a long laugh as I reached the bathroom on the 2nd floor, the one down the corridor from Leon's, Sarah's and my own bedrooms. Crossing the floor-heated, white-marble-patterned tile floor, I stripped off my Struggle costume and hung my beloved wedding necklance on a sink faucet.

With the help of near-boiling hot water and my jasmine scented shampoo which I had insisted on using my whole life, seeing as how Roxie used to love the smell, I was soon in my bedroom, thoroughly clean, rifling through my wardrobe to find the best possible outfit to impress Roxie.

'Hmm... checkered or not...' I mused to myself as I mused between two shirts I was thinking about wearing.

'Sora, need help matching?' Mom's gentle voice asked through my locked bedroom door.

'No thanks, Mom, I'll be fine.' I called back, eyes still stuck between the choices.

I always kept my bedroom door locked, even to just go to the bathroom. No one was allowed to enter my sanctuary...

_Beige and white or red..._

The two outfits I had in my were essentially the same with dark blue semi-skin-tight jeans, red socks and converse shoes. The only difference was the shirt colour: either a beige and white checkered plaid shirt, or a dark blood-red shirt, the latter with a white t shirt underneath.

_I have to impress Roxie... I want him to know I made the effort for him..._

The beige one. Matched my jeans and shoes, looked sophisticated but since it hung slightly loose also seemed like casual wear. I finished the outfit with my beautiful silver crown pendant, I wore it everywhere but worst case scenario I'll just remind Roxie that we're married! That'll remind him of the good old days!

_Playing, hugging, kissing... in this very room... all those years ago..._

I looked at my reflection in the wardrobe mirror. I never really felt whole ever since he left... we would dress up in costumes or whatever and stand together, looking into this very mirror, smiling away, Roxas would always tell me how cute I looked... I would kiss him and tell him: '' as cute as you...'' I quoted...

I turned away from the mirror, not allowing myself to cry again, no puffy eyes for Roxie today! Smiles, laughter and maybe even a hug was our destiny for today!

Exiting and locking my room using my crown pendant I turned right down the corridor of the 2nd floor of my house. Family photos and grand landscapes adorned the white walls until the right handside broke off to make way for the staircase, which I began descending.

As I reached the bottom I travelled a few more metres down the entrance way to the front door. Taking a deep breath I opened it and stepped out into the purple-orange evening before me.

'Goodluck.' I heard Leon say from somewhere behind me, but all my attention was on the house next door...

'Sora! Wanna play _smash bros_? C'mon we can tag team!' My little sister Sarah voiced with her 9 year old girlish tone.

'Sorry, Sarah... got something to do right now...' Was all I could muster whilst my gaze remained fixed on the house. Usually I loved to play _smash bros_ with Sarah, but today was the beginning of a new day for me...

'I'll team with you Sarah.' Leon took the bullet for me.

'Yay! Awesome! But I'm Pikachu, Leon!' I winced, I hated Pokemon... well I didn't hate it, but when me and Roxie were little I got so jealous of Ash Ketchum, and he hated Naruto just as much as I did Ash for the same reason. But that was a long time ago...

Closing the door behind me, I meandered my way over to Strife land, those feelings of anxiety building up inside of me... but I hurried onwards and reached the porch, I had just changed and didn't want to start sweating and shaking like earlier.

I raised my hand to knock on the door, forsaking the doorbell.

The oak frontdoor had black hinges on the left handside and a blurred window in the middle. This window had a rose stained into it, a rose that was shifting shape and colour...

Before I could knock the door swung open before me.

'Knew you'd try an' knock it down later, Kid.' Cid Strife remarked as he stepped past me, leaving the door open. It must nearly be 8pm as I noticed him crossing over into my own family territory, probably for those beers he arranged earlier in the day with Dad and Leon... poor Sarah, she only started playing with Leon as well... oh well guess she can play single player for a while..

'Oh Sora look how grown up you are!' I turned around to find Ashe Strife standing in the entrance way of her old and new home.

'Uh... thanks Mrs St-'

'Ashe, Sora.' She corrected me with a kind smile.

'...Thanks, Ashe.' I laughed, scratching the back of my head.

'Even hundreds of miles apart couldn't stop you two scratching your heads when your embarassed...' She said mostly to herself...

_Guess Roxie might not have changed too much after all then!_

'Yeah... hundreds of miles...' I repeated mostly to myself this time, slightly downcast at that reminder.

'But nevermind that now!' Ashe suddenly pepped up, her light chestnut-blonde haired head turning towards the staircase further into the Strife abode. 'We both know why you're here, Sora.' She smiled. Could I see a tear in her eye as she smiled onwards?

'Same room?' I asked, figiting with my fingers from nerves... my legs felt like jelly and my knees were weak... my throat was dry again... oh god not again...

'You know where it is, Sweetie. Go talk to him.' She beamed one last time as I slipped off my red shoes and passed her in the entrance way, I fixed my gaze on the top of the stairs... moving towards my destiny...

 

.o0o.

 

** Roxas' P.O.V.: **

Life couldn't be sweeter right now!

Sure I had moved away from my life and friend in Twilight Town, and sure I was in the same city, right next door no less, as Sora Bastardhart, but positives... be positive... I promised Mom I would be positive... so I am!

Today, I had enrolled in a new school, destroyed their best and brightest Strugglers with ease, and then crushed the pathetic soul of Bastardhart by ruining his record. Not bad for a day's work!

But to make it even better, I was sat upstairs, in my big bedroom with my forty inch TV playing my favourite MMO: _Keyblade Wars Online_ , _finally_ practicing my ice spells on some mobs... with the whole weekend ahead of me and no homework, I was almost actually happy! Not just pretending for Mom's sake...

At least Bastardhart was probably sat at home, crying his eyes out over his stupid record; he had nearly caught up to Cloud and I as we escaped earlier, but now I bet the reality of his crushing loss had set in!

_Ha!_

I logged out briefly to stretch my legs and get a drink from downstairs, hopefully someone had bought some soda or something today...

I stood up and turned right towards the window that adorned one of the cream walls of my bedroom. Stretching my arms up in the air I felt the strain on my muscles from all that Struggling, sleeping would be easy to come by tonight at least...

I had changed out of my Struggling gear at home, showered, and then put on a light blue polo shirt, some tan chino trousers, finishing the out fit with white socks and my cross pendant... in short... I was comfortable, relaxed, and satisfied that Bastardhart wouldn't bother me anytime soon.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

'It's unlocked I called out to probably my Mom.' I heard the door open, some feet enter the room and then close the door again.

'What's u-'

'...' No.

'...'

'...' No words formed.

My heart had stopped and restarted withing a millisecond, beating a million times faster than usual. I couldn't breathe, I could feel ice, I could feel the cold spread throughout my body as I locked eyes with magnificent sky-blue pupils, his gaze unfroze me and set fire to my entire being. Every emotion swirled throughout my body as I took in the gorgeous light chocolate points that rose above those pupils, the cherubic jawline and cheekbones that structured the rest of his face, those lips, pink and slightly plump, yet still thin enough to be perfect in every manner. He wore a checkered beige shirt that barely exposed his pronounced collar bone... and... his crown... necklace...

He was... Sora Leonhart...

My mouth may as well have been a desert, my hands lay limp and numb by my side and my eyes were punishing me, threatening to spill over with tears as they took in the sight of Sora Leonhart, our equal height betraying his oncoming tears as well...

'...Roxas...' A tiny voice with a deep crack uttered.

'Sora.' I tried to spit at him. His light eyebrows furrowing in what looked like sadness at attempt. I had prepared myself for this, he caught me off guard just now, but I had been ready for this for the past 10 years...

'Hi...' Was all he said.

'...'

'...'

'...'

'...'

'So can I help you with anything?' I found the words some how, using my hands to emphasise them.

'I... I...um well I...'

'Well this has been a great chat, Sora, but,' I gestured to the paint on the walls, 'I have to watch this dry, and frankly, it's just gotten interesting.' I sneared at him.

'R-R-Roxas...'

'Mhm, yeah I got that bit already, now if you'll excuse me, I really am busy with all this paint watching.'

'I-I came up to say 'hi'.' He hurried out in response to me.

_God I love the smell of jasmine... where's that coming from?_

He was fiddling with his crown necklace, looking at it for the courage... or audacity to talk to me.

'You said that bit, so I guess you can go now, huh?' I cocked my head to the right side, emphasising that I really didn't want him here.

He realised he was failing miserably in whatever he had set out to do here.

Holding out his necklace he continued looking down at it, his cheeks flushed red, probably from embarassment at how much of a tool he was... in general not just right now.

'R-remember when we got married, R-R-Roxie? We're bestfriends, 'member?' He looked up slightly to see my reaction, but too late.

I exploded, closing the few feet of distance between us. Grabbing him by the collar of the shirt with both of my hands and throwing him onto the grey carpet of my bedroom, I wanted to fucking kill him!

I had mounted him and held him down by the collar of his shirt, starring straight into those sky-blue eyes, the ones currently forming tears in their corners.

''Bestfriend'! 'Bestfriend'! How the flying fuck can you dare to call me yourself my 'bestfriend', Sora Leonhart!?' I was bright red in the face, the adrenaline coursed rapidly throughout my body.

'...' He looked terrified.

'Answer me you bastard!' I shouted at him.

'Because you are, Roxie.' The rage. Oh fuck the rage inside of me right now, I could fucking rip his fucking motherfucking throat out!

'You replaced me you fucking cunt!' I screamed at him.

'...How could you even think I would do that?' He dead-panned back at me, all traces of fear gone from his face. He locked eyes with my furious ones, a calm summer's sky meeting a raging storm.

'I know you did! I know you did, I saw your friends! I know who they are! Don't play games with me you fucker!'

'Who?' He asked.

'Silver and pink hair, whoever the fuck they are!'

'Riku and Kairi? Roxie, how could you ever think they mean as much to me as you do?'

''Do'?' I quoted violently.

'I can tell I'm not your bestfriend Roxas, and that's okay, I've had 10 years of planning, waiting for my opportunity to win you back.' I quirked my eyebrows at him.

'You're damn right I'm not you nut job!, and you could never 'win me back'!' I retorted in absolute vehemence.

'I'm not your bestfriend, but I always thought of you as mine, Roxas, so who replaced who?' His neutral expression pierced me... he was trying to play fucking mind games with me...

'You aren't my bestfriend because you _replaced_ me! You said you would love _me_ forever! But no! As soon as I left you decided you loved _her_ more than me!'

'Roxas, I have no idea what on earth you're talking about...'

That was it, the last straw, I was gonna punch his fucking lights out.

I raised my fist back and above my head, poised and ready to strike. My fist was ready to to smash that perfect face of his.

But he wasn't scared... he didn't flinch... a lone tear ran down his cheek and onto the floor as the calm sky engaged the raging ocean in a deadly showdown.

'Do what you have to do. Don't hesitate. Do it, Roxie.' Sora choked out as he sniffed, holding back his obvious tears.

'Why aren't you fighting back!?' I raged at him.

'Because if you beat the shit out of me now, all of this hatred and anger you've held towards me can be unleashed. And then once that's out the way, we can be bestfriends again.' He finished, smiling a perfect smile at me as he continued to gaze up at me.

_God damn it I love you so fucking much, Sora._

Even my thoughts were turning against me. And fuck that jasmine smell, it was Sora, fuck he even smelt fucking perfect.

'Arrrgh! Fucking coward!' I roared, standing up and pacing to the window and then back to where Sora still lay from my assault.

'Roxie...' Sora got back up the his feet and came towards me.

I walked towards him, he smiled, maybe thinking I would forgive him.

As he approached me I grabbed the crown pendant he wore around his neck and pulled it up over his head in one swift movement, throwing it to the ground behind me.

Sora hadn't even registered my action before I had picked up a hiking boot and loomed over the pendant.

He tried moving towards it but I stopped him, 'if you take another step I'll crush this thing right now. Understand?' I dead-panned at him.

He nodded, his eyes alight with fear as they darted between me, the boot and the pendant on the floor.

'Why punch when I can smash this instead? Saves my knuckles.' I smirked at him.

'Roxas, stop!'

I raised an eyebrow at him.

'I promise I'll go home if you give me it back! Please!' His calm eyes were now hurricanes of concern.

'Well, Sora, you're promises don't mean much do they?' I scoffed at him.

Unfortunately the 6 year old in me could never harm that crown necklace, it was all he had left of the boy he loved other than his own pendant. I picked it up and threw it back to him.

'Whaddya mean?' Sora sniffed as he hurridly secured the pendant back around his perfect neck, next to his perfect collarbones, whipping a tear from his eye before lowering his arms to his sides.

'You promised you would love me forever. Bullshit!' I spat.

'I always have done-'

'Shut the fuck up, I'm the judge, jury and executioner here, Bastardhart.' I sneared yet again at him, he looked crushed by my new nickname for him.

'You promised you would always win every Struggle match, and today you technically lost!' So you, Sora, ar-'

Sora closed the distance between us and threw his arms around me, instantly pulling me into a tight embrace...

As our bodies connected a million memories rushed past my eyes:

_'I love you, Roxie!'_

_'Love ya too, Sora!'_

Those two phrases rang like church bells throughout my mind, and holy fuck did I feel alive right now. I felt energy spark through my body, from where he held me and made contact with me spreading all the way to my hands and my feet and my toes.

_God I fucking love you!_

Tears poured from my eyes, down my cheeks and hit the grey carpet beneath us where they missed Sora's shoulder. I felt my body shake as I hugged him back, the two of us standing in an embrace... just like old times... and I felt both of us shaking as he wept with me... both of us crying because we knew that if my family had just stayed... maybe we would still be what we used to be...

We pulled apart... and my calm ocean pupils matched his calm sky ones.

'I always keep my promises, Roxie. I'll go.' He turned to walk away from me.

'No! You lost today remember!'

'Actually, Roxie, our promise was that we would Struggle until we were _reunited_ , he said the worst just as we used to say it together, and what happened today? He asked with that gigantic smile I seen earlier on.

' _Reunited_...' I answered completely dumbfoundered.

'Yep! Just like Sephiroth and Setzer! Except we're still on par at Struggle and poor Setzer lost!' Sora let out a cute giggle before he turned on his heel.

'Cya tomorrow, Roxie!' He turned his head and said over his shoulder, giving me a cheesy but genuine, toothy grin.

'Umm, not likely, I still hate you and won't be opening my door again unless I recognise the voice.' I shot back. Sora frowned.

'Roxie. Listen, I've been waitin' 10 years for this,' he turned around, walked towards me and only stopped an inch away from my face, '10 years of watching out my window for moving vans. 10 years of sitting next to the phone. 10 years of checking for letters and then _Facebook_ and then _Twitter_ , this has happened a billion times in my head, but now its here... well... now it doesn't just have to be a distant dream.' He smiled at me, serenly this time, before turning around again, opening the door and leaving through it, shutting it closed behind him.

_He doesn't look very destroyed..._

I flopped onto my bed began starring at the cream ceiling, trying to recount what the fuck had just happened, all the while I inhaled the scent of jasmine that was now back in my life after so many years away.

 

.o0o.

 

** Sora's P.O.V. **

_He's perfect, he's so perfect it makes my heart wanna burst!_

I was walking between our two houses now, still feeling the adrenaline from my encounter with Roxie. I would never be able to sleep tonight, I never could on Friday's or Saturday's for some reason, but I usually passed out from exhaustion at about 5am. It wasn't a bad thing, because it meant hours and hours of day dreaming about Roxie and me!

I think tonight I'll continue the one where we go on holiday together to Atlantica, everything there is ocean, just like Roxie's beautiful eyes! I couldn't help but giggle madly as I slowly walked back up my driveway.


	7. A Brand New Day

Before long the orange-purple rays of Destiny Islands' sunset had set, and the silver rays of the moon lit the cloudless night sky.

 

By this point, Sora had returned home, a combination of left over adrenaline and thoughts of his bestfriend causing him to beam cheerily. Having shut the patterned, oak front door of the Leonhart property the sound of happy voices and laughing penetrated his ears.

 

** Sora's P.O.V.: **

****

_My Roxie... my Roxie..._

I couldn't help but giggle out loud at the thought...

 

_My Roxie... all mine..._

'What's so funny Sora?'

 

'Huh?' Leon's voice penetrated my thoughts slightly.

 

_He's all mine..._

 

'Yeah, Kid, hear a funny joke or something?' The gruff voice of Cid snapped me back to reality.

 

I had somehow made it to my living room without realising it...

 

'Daydreaming again were we?' My Mom's voice addressed me from my right.

 

As you entered our house, the family living room (so called because Leon, Sarah and I had our own one upstairs) was situated at the front of the right-hand side of the house; the room was open plan, so as soon as you came through the door, Dad's office was through a door to the left, the staircase was straight ahead, and you were already standing in the family room, with the kitchen through a set of double French doors at the end of the room.

 

Three leather couches occupied much of the space, forming a square when added with the huge TV in the room that hung on the right wall of the house. Besides those, a bay window took up about half of the wall that ran parallel to the front door with a bookcase and two armchairs occupying the far corner. The rest of the room was occupied by either house-hold plants, family photos on the wall or open space left so the room didn't look cramped (the room was huge so really there was no danger of that at all), I did appreciate the open space when I was younger though, loads of space to wrestle Roxie...

 

_Roxie... He's just as perfect as ever..._

'Sora...'

 

_His eyes..._

'Sora...'

_His hair..._

'Sora...'

 

_His cheeks... His face..._

'Someone else try...'

 

_His smile... His voice... He's perfect in every way..._

'Roxas!' Cid's voice boomed through my mental haze.

 

'Where?' I span around my living room, looking left, right and centre.

 

'Heh, guess we know what Little Leonhart had on his mind then.' Cid smirked.

 

I returned to my previous position, standing in the middle of my living room just behind the centre leather couch facing the TV. My Mom and Mrs Strife sat on the couch to the right, Leon and Cid sat to my left, and in front of me, craning their necks backwards to look at me were Dad and Cloud. Sarah and a girl I hadn't seen before were lying on their elbows in the centre of the couches in front of the glass coffee table that centred the TV area, they both looked back at me, but the girl I didn't know looked at me with what seemed like amusement in her eyes...

 

_Must be Roxie's sister... but why's she lookin' at me like that..._

'What were you thinking about Roxas for, _Sora_?' The un-named girl sing-songed at me.

 

'I... Well I was... You know... I wasn't I was... Ummm...'

 

A room full of raised eyebrows looked towards me as I turned bright red, the thought of Roxas and the interrogation burning my cheeks.

 

'Marlene, don't torture him, you've only met him. Gotta wait a few hours before you can do that.' Cloud stepped in for me.

 

'Sorry, I was just hoping for some dirt on Roxas so I can annoy him later.' Marlene added, a sinister yet angelic grin on her face.

 

'You okay, Sor?' My sister giggled at me.

 

'Yeah I'm fine, just... you know everyone's kinda looking at me...' I returned, my voice cracking slightly.

 

'And we are now back to Destiny High's Struggle extravaganza! The final in the competition between our very own Sora Leonhart, and the newcomer, Roxas Strife!' The news replay which had been on commercial jumped into life breaking the silence.

 

'Saved by the loud, fat anchor man, Sora.' My Dad smiled at me, turning back towards the TV, everyone followed suit except for Cid who gave me one last mocking wink before doing the same.

 

_Thank god for that..._

Pretty soon everyone was transfixed by the 'epic', 'hellacious' and apparently 'brutal' match between Roxie and I.

 

'Sora you're so purple!' Sarah called out over the TV noise causing Marlene to giggle at me.

 

'Yeah, but Roxie's (How dare anyone call him that but me!) face is a new colour that hasn't been discovered before!' Marlene joked back to Sarah causing her to giggle even more.

 

'Wow, You and Roxas were superb, Sora.' Mom added, trying to stop the renewed mockery at my expense.

 

'Thanks, Mom, but look at Roxas, he's much better than me.' I replied.

 

'You guys were at a stalemate for half an hour, Sora, I think we can safely call it a tie.' Dad voiced softley.

 

'Well Sora's biased though, Dad, Roxie's (oh my god stop saying my name for him!) the best thing since sliced bread remember.' Leon returned, causing Cloud and Cid to burst out laughing.

 

'Oh, leave Sora alone, boys.' Mom defended me.

 

After half a minute the laughing died down and the match hit the 20 minute mark.

 

But I was entranced... Roxas was just so... perfect... The way he moved, the way he flipped and rolled and attacked and blocked and even the way his beautiful spikes stuck to his forehead with sweat, only he could make sweating look so elegant and perfect... perfect...

 

'Roxas' costume looks great, huh, Sora?' Someone said through the haze of my Roxas-related thoughts.

 

'Yeah he’s perfect...' I almost whispered. His body fit so well into the semi-skin-tight clothing, he looked like a shadow in the all-black clothing as his form danced and slashed and danced some more in a passionate rage.

 

'You guys were panting so much I thought one of you might pass out, Roxas' face is-'

 

'Perfect' I finished for whoever had started that sentence as I balanced my elbows on the back of the leather couch I stood behind my chin resting in my palms, staring at Roxie's image on the TV.

 

'I was gonna say bright purple, but each to their own, Sora.' Someone replied to me chuckling... why were they chuckling?

 

In fact, everyone was laughing, but why...?

 

The match came to a conclusion at that moment and with Roxie no longer occupying the screen I lost interest in the news.

 

‘There any pizza left?’ I asked my Mom.

 

‘Kitchen table, Sora.’ She replied.

 

_Roxie and pizza in one night… man this was the best day ever!_

 

 

.o0o.

 

** Zack’s P.O.V.: **

****

Waking up to the sound of rain splashing against your bedroom window was an odd occurrence on Destiny Islands, in fact, rain at all was a rarity without there being a full blown tropical storm… but today wasn’t like that, the droplets just lightly pattered against the double glazed glass.

 

Weird, but then again everything was weird right now, the Strife’s, our bestfriends were back, and Sora had let his obsession with Roxas become… public last night… it was no secret that Sora was Roxas-centric, his weekly claims of seeing Roxas on the street and chanting Roxas’ name in his usually disturbed-insomnia sleep that for some reason happened every Friday and Saturday night more than proved that.

 

Speaking of Saturdays… time to get up…

 

I looked at the alarm clock on Aeris’ bedside table past her empty space.

 

‘9am… urgh’ I moaned to myself as I shuffled out of bed and down the two flights of stairs that separated our floor from the ground floor and kitchen… kitchen… least I knew where Sora got his appetite from. The smell of distant bacon told me that Aeris was busy cooking the usual buffet for breakfast: enough food to feed 25 but never enough for Sora and I, maybe 35 would do it... or 50… I could eat for 50 right now… when’s my birthday again, breakfast in bed would have been awesome today…

 

The scent of bacon and tender sausages lured me closer, picking me up from the floor and levitating me there with its enticing-ness…

 

‘Hiya, Dad!’ One of my brood’s voice called.

 

I crashed to the ground, metaphorically, I can’t actually levitate towards food even if I wish I could sometimes… I turned to see Sora’s smiling face attached to his reclining figure on one of the leather sofas in the living room. His eyes were shining with that excitement I hadn’t seen in him in years…

 

‘Morning, Sor.’ I grumbled as I stumbled over and sat on the sofa next to his feet. ‘Aren’t ya usually asleep or exhausted by 9am?’ I grabbed his toes affectionately and gave them a shake, probably a strange thing for me to do but when a guy’s only been up for 5 minutes strange is normal and normal is weird.

 

‘Yep but I woke up at about eight so I only got a few minutes sleep, I was having an awesome dream too!’ My youngest son replied to me, his smile stretching at the mention of his dream…

 

‘About wha?’ I asked groggily, no coffee equals no awake Zack. Although I was slightly worried as I had just asked a teenage boy what his ‘really awesome dream’ was about, but knowing Sora it was either about puppies and kittens or Roxas.

 

‘Me and Roxie went on holiday to Atlantica-‘ He began.

 

‘Ahh say no more, Sor, Roxas-dream.’ I stated in conclusion to my earlier question.

 

‘Yeah but we went swimming and ate ice cream and-‘ He tried to continue.

 

‘Sor,’ I reached over and clamped a hand over his mouth (he continued to try and talk with a bemused yet confused look on his face), ‘Roxas-dream, I get it, I don’t need to know all the nasty details.’ I winked at him (Cid told me to do this whenever Roxas came up in conversation with Sora).

 

‘Hmph.’ Sora concluded to show his annoyance at my gesture.

 

I just laughed and trudged back on my path to the bacon, the smell much less alluring now that it had been ready for a few minutes. Upon entering the kitchen I found a plate already stacked sky-hile with bacon rashers, scrambled eggs, massive sausages (oh Cid’s innuendoes where art thou!) and toast as well.

 

‘Coffee’s in here, Zack, you can stop panicking!’ Aeris called from the neighbouring dining room. I took my breakfast from the kitchen island and turned left, entering through another set of double doors into the large dining room located at the back of the house alongside the kitchen. The love of my life and my princess sat opposite each other, straight ahead of me, near the closest end of the dining table to the French doors connecting to the outside veranda. I sat down at the large vanished maple-wood table at the head of the table, in front of the french doors, Aeris to my right and Sarah to my left. My seat as well as the others were made of more intricate woodwork finished with red backings and cushions.

 

‘How come all you guys are teasing Sora the Explorer about Roxas?’My youngest asked after she had swallowed some of her breakfast… she was the best trained of the three by far… Leon had his rebel faze during the middle of his teenage years and was a nightmare for a while, and Sora was literally a puppy that refused to swallow its food because it kept forgetting that it could choke… Heimlich Manoeuvre mastery by the time Sora was 4 and yet I didn’t receive any ‘world’s greatest dad rewards’, the injustice!

 

‘Well… Sarah… years ago Sora and Roxas were basically inseparable and then the Strifes moved away and they fell out so it’s kind of awkward between them now and… I guess… it’s just funny to see them act so awkwardly towards each other.’ I tried to express a decade’s worth of drama and mystery into one sentence.

 

‘Marley says Sora’s likes Roxas and Roxas likes him too but Roxas is way too stubborn to forgive Sora for whatever happened,’ She began.

 

‘Wait how do you know they had a falling out?’ I asked her, we agreed never to tell the girls about their brothers’ bad standing with one another just in case anyone got protective and arguments happened (as unlikely as that was to happen).

 

‘Cus Marley listens to Roxas and Cloud when they talk about it, she said she’s known for ages.’

 

‘Huh.’ Was all I could utter as Aeris sat starring into her coffee mug smiling.

 

Soft footsteps could be heard as Sora appeared from the kitchen, hovering in the doorway.

 

‘Mom… can I… ummm…’

 

‘There’s more food on the bench, Sora’ Aeris chuckled at her son.

 

Sora’s face lit up as he retreated and then returned into the dining room with another plate of food stacked higher than mine.

 

‘Second or third breakfast?’ I mumbled at him between mouthfuls.

 

‘Fourth!’ He joyfully returned before massacring his plate.

 

I managed another mouthful of bacon before I heard Sora place his fork down across his plate.

 

‘Finished!’ He triumphantly announced, wiping his mouth with his arm and sitting back, relishing the victory.

There was a comfortable silence between the four of us for a few minutes. Aeris hadn’t moved from staring into the mug, Sarah was eating still and Sora was looking at the clock that sat on an end table at the far side of the room next to glass cabinets full of plates, both decorative and actual plates used for eating.

 

‘Mom…’ Sora began.

 

Aeris lifted her face and met his eyes, smiling. ‘Yes, Sora?’

 

‘It’s half nine... so can I go over to the Strifes now?’ He asked sheepishly breaking the eye contact.

 

‘How do you even know Roxas is up, Sora?’ She asked.

 

‘Dunno, just got a feeling he might be is all’ He smiled back at her, raising his head again, cheeks slightly reddened.

 

‘Hmmm, okay, I’ll make you a deal, Sora’ she began, Sora cocked his head in response like a puppy being trained, ‘if you go to sleep for a little while’, Sora pouted in response, ‘just for a few hours, and then if you get all your homework done’, ‘Sora’s pout was now a frowny-pout, which made Sarah start giggling, her brother shot her a look in response forcing her to clamp her mouth shut as she giggled relentlessly at his facial expression… and to be honest I was only barely holding my own set of laughter in.

 

‘But I wanna see Roxie…’ Sora began.

 

‘Roxas might not be awake yet, Sora, and you have had no sleep. If you go to bed, do your homework then you can definitely see him later, how about that?’ Aeris reasoned to her son.

 

‘Definitely?’ He questioned, ‘really, you’ll make him spend time with me?’ He grinned at his mother and then at me and then at Sarah, clearly excited by this idea.

 

‘Well yes, because tonight we’re having the Strifes over for dinner, and I’ll even make sure Roxas comes and sits next to you-‘

 

That was all Sora heard before he jumped up from his seat, a gigantic grin spread from ear to ear.

 

‘Okay night everyone!’ He bellowed as he whizzed everyone’s now empty plates off to the kitchen dishwasher and then bolted off upstairs in a blur of motion. The sound of his door unlocking and then closing could be heard in the distance.

 

‘We are?’ I questioned Aeris who nodded in confirmation.

 

‘Can I sit next to Marley?’ Sarah asked energetically.

 

‘If you do all your homework’. I replied, trying to do the parent thing Aeris does.

 

‘But we only got inducted yesterday, there’s isn’t any’ She giggled back at me, amused by my failed attempt.

 

‘Ummm….’ Was all I could reply.

 

‘Extra reading then.’ Aeris answered for me.

Sarah performed the famous Leonhart pout, ‘awwwwwww’, before she stood up and mockingly hung her head and made a show of plodding off with heavy feet towards the obvious torture she was being inflicted with.

 

‘Nice save, Hun’ I smiled at my wife.

 

‘And you can get all your emails done before dinner or else you can’t sit next to Cid.’ She replied.

 

‘Awwwww!’ I moaned before imitating Sarah, leaving the room as my wife tried to hide her hysterics at my actions.

 

 

.o0o.

 

Upstairs Sora Leonhart had stripped down from his dark grey slacks and blue t shirt into his red boxershorts, removing his socks as well. He climbed into his much too small bed that only barely contained his feet.

 

Why was his bed so small? One might ask that question if they saw the room. But no one knew it was so small except for his family, and they hadn’t seen it in a decade. Sora saw to the cleaning of his room, not even his mother was allowed to set foot in his sanctuary. That was the reason Sora’s bed was so small, but he would never, ever dream of changing it… or anything in the room itself…

 

The brunet lay back under the covers in the cool, near-pitch-black room and closed his eyes… Friday night was over so sleep could come to him properly at last…

 

Suddenly visions of himself and his beloved blond bestfriend shot into his mind.

 

No longer was Sora confined to his bed in Destiny Islands. His body was flying, no, zooming across the sky. Villages, towns, cities, the world stood still as the boy’s horizontal body travelled, his eyes closed all the way.

 

Just as quickly as the journey began, it ended.

 

Sora’s body arced and soared straight down through the clouds heading at lightning speed towards the crystal waters of the ocean below him.

 

SPLASH

 

Sora hit the water at an impossible speed and his body shattered into an infinity of tiny fragments.

 

Sora stood in the haze of a golden evening sun, his bare feet engulfed in the white sands of the shore, no longer shocked at watching his own body disintegrate. Saturday and Sunday late morning naps had always been accompanied by this dream-prelude.

The brunet stood staring into the glorious sunset, orange rays playing on his face and dancing across his lean body. Though he was barefoot this time, his dream-maker had at least given him his usual red cargo shorts and white t-shirt to wear, and of course, his silver crown necklace, that was no negotiable, even the dream-maker knew that.

 

Sora’s gaze continued, as he made patterns in the sand with his feet, wondering where the heck he was this time… and when He would turn up.

 

 

** Sora’s P.O.V.: **

****

_That was why I was here after all… for Him… it was the only time I had with Him… well at least before today it was anyway…_

 

_‘Oh, Sora, I’m so happy we came here! I’ve always wanted to visit Atlantica!’ a perfect voice sounded from behind me. I turned around to see the boy of my dreams staring off into the sunset, except he was stood a few feet behind me peering past my shoulder._

_‘Anything for you, Roxie.’ I said, smiling at him… he smiled back…_

_God I loved that beautiful smile of his…_

_He moved closer to me and wrapped his arms around my upper body… we were the same size so our heads rested side by side…_

_‘I love you so much, Roxie.’ I mustered the words into his ear._

_‘I love you too, Sora.’ He returned before lifting his head off my shoulder._

_We gazed at each other, the glorious sun bouncing off his hair, illuminating his ocean-blue eyes as they shone at me._

_I felt something stir in my chest as I looked at him… he always did this to me… always made my heart beat faster and louder and he made my head feel kinda cloudy…_

_He slowly moved his head towards me, still smiling until our noses were a millimetre apart._

_I was entranced by him, I couldn’t move, and I didn’t want to…_

_‘I love you, Sora Leonhart.’ He stated simply._

_We were so close I could inhale the scent of his breathe as he spoke, and I wanted more of it, it was intoxicating, I wanted more of it… I needed more of that scent… and I could smell the vanilla that always accompanied him as well…_

_‘I love you, Roxas Strife.’ I responded to him as he inhaled the scent of my words and his smile grew as mine had just done._

‘BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP, alarm for Sora Leonhart!’ The shrill voice of my sister shouted through my bedroom door.

 

I could have cried.

 

‘Yeah, yeah, thank you!’ I shouted back as I heard her retreat back downstairs.

 

I rolled over to look at my clock and saw it was 3pm.

 

‘Better get ready and do that homework I suppose…’

 

There wasn’t anything set but my parents made us do extra subject reading for some reason, stupid but if it meant an evening sitting next to Roxie I would do the homework of the entire planet for the whole year... in all seriousness I genuinely would if that was a trade option…

 

 

.o0o.

 

 

** Roxas’ P.O.V.: **

****

 

Normally if you asked someone what the weather was like, they could tell you, but I still had my curtains closed and hadn’t even been out my room besides for the bathroom and food.

 

Yes it was 4pm and I had been playing video games since 9:30am but so what? I had moved back to Desthitty Islands and had to put up with Sora Bastardhart as my neighbour so I was entitled to video gaming to block out reality whenever possible… Level 5 ice magicka… it was wonderful… I had just entered the _Forbidden Planes_ on _Keyblade Wars Online_ , and had instantly murdered a group of PvP noobs who came after me…

 

Such a good moment…

 

A group of 6 noobs all ran at me swinging their Bonds of Flames and Oath keepers, and I just stood there, defiant, waving my hand in a circular motion. Before they knew it icicles had appeared all around me and I shot them straight at the group of noobs, impaling and killing every one of them.

 

‘Tsk, ‘noobs4life’ should be their clan name not ‘1337ninjaassassins’.

 

I had to stop laughing at my own jokes… even I knew it wasn’t cool to be this amused by your own terrible joke.

 

Tap.Tap.Tap

 

‘Rox, can I come in?’ Cloud asked before barging in anyway.

 

‘Hey, what about privacy?’ I asked without turning away from my game.

 

‘Why were you masturbating or something in here?’ He asked.

 

The shock on my face must have said it all.

 

‘Jeez I was kidding no need to go pale, Rox!’ My brother came over and ruffled my spikes, to which I shook my head to knock his hand away.

 

‘Yeah well I… urmmm… I could have been getting changed or something!’ I retorted, logging off my game for now.

 

‘Speaking of getting changed…’ Cloud said from the doorway looking at me pointedly.

 

‘Wha-‘ I looked down and realised I was still in my pyjamas. ‘Oh.’ I said simply.

 

‘Yeah we’re going to the Leonharts for dinner at 7 so you need to get changed and preferably showered at some point.’ He smirked at me.

 

What.

 

The.

 

Fuck.

 

Did.

 

He.

 

Just.

 

Fucking.

 

Say?

 

‘You could just ask me to insert-swear-word repeat myself instead of your subconscious, you know, Rox.’

 

‘How did you-‘

 

‘Cus you’re an open book of angry emotions half the time Rox, and you have really clear facial expressions.’

 

‘Oh.’ Was all I could reply to the mindreading skills of Cloud.

 

‘Yeah, but as I said,’ he slung an arm around me, ‘Leonhart’s for dinner at 7, so you have to dress properly, Mom wants to impress Aeris and Zack.

 

‘You fucking expect me to spend an evening with that fucker?’ I retorted spitting the ‘You’ for emphasis of my annoyance.

 

‘…’ Nothing was said.

 

Cloud raised his arm into the air slightly, protruded his finger slightly and waved it in the air as he spoke.

 

‘Yes.’ Was his answer before he stood up and strode off, closing my door behind him.

 

_As if I’m going anywhere near that fucker._

No. I wasn’t going to dinner, fuck it, I didn’t care what they said, I wasn’t fucking going.

 

End of.

 

_But Mom really wants…_

_And what about what I want!_

_It’s not like we have to be his friend again, just go over, sit on the otherside of their table, eat their food, be polite and leave. Easy._

_Fuck you._

_Fuck me? I think you mean fuck you then technically._

_Oh good point…_

Urgh proving Cloud and Dad right again about my isolation driving me slowly insane.

 

‘Roxas?’ I heard a tapping on the door before my Mom’s head appeared.

 

She smiled at me and opened the door fully, crossing the space between us to sit next to me.

 

‘I know we’ve asked a lot of you recently.’

 

‘Tsk.’ I huffed back.

 

‘But I need you to come over with us tonight, please?’ She begged.

 

I broke the gaze I had with the floor and raised my head, meeting her eyes. She was looking at me with the same look from yesterday, the one that penetrated the armour I was wearing.

 

Anyone who had ever seen their Mom on the verge of tears in the past would understand the reason why by 6:30pm I was showered and rifling through my clothes trying to find something to wear.

 

Why was I so concerned about my choice of clothes?

 

Well, if I was gonna go to this stupid dinner I might as well out dress that stupid bastard of a brunet that lives next door. We’re teenagers and we’re the same age, so everything was a competition by nature, at least that’s how I felt at the moment. I just wanted to see defeat across his face, see him upset and hurt, and I accomplished just that yesterday, so today I wanted the same thing to happen.

 

Eventually I settled on my outfit: a charcoal grey shirt that felt tight against my lean body; my brown converse shoes which maintained the classy but casual look I wanted, with some dark grey socks; light grey boxershorts with a black waistband which were skin-tight; a pair of faded-cream chino trousers that complimented the shirt and shoes well; and finally, my silver necklace, secured around my neck as always, just to show Bastardhart that even if he forgot about me… replaced me… I NEVER forgot or replaced him…

 

The blond spikes that I called hair were fashioned in the same way they always were so I didn’t do much with those… urgh… Sometimes I hated being so average looking… not that I wanted attention for my looks or anything but just so I could think to myself, ‘ _yeah… you look great… so today’s gonna be great!’_ or something to that effect…

 

That was another reason for me to hate Sora, I was average looking, nothing special… and he looked like a supermodel… I might hate him but that didn’t mean I was a liar… and the truth was that he was the best looking person I had ever met. I think it was the way that he had grown up, 15 years old now, but he still maintained that childish glow in his cheeks, the one that beamed sunshine into the world… yet he still managed to grow with a perfectly proportioned body…

 

_Not that I was looking at his proportions or anything…_

_Sure…_

_Oh shut the hell up!_

The door of my bedroom slammed shut as I exited the room, thoroughly pissed off at myself for the lack of support that my subconscious had for me.

 

As I made my way down the stairs of the house, I could see Marlene twirling in front of the hallway mirror with my Mom standing behind her, watching her, with proud eyes.

 

Marlene was wearing a simple baby blue dress that came down to the bottom of her shins, with sequins glittering across her torso and a black slash belt around her waist. Beige sandals finished off her outfit, making her look very elegant but the design was actually very simple, the designer herself had said that it was a beautiful dress made beautiful by natural beauty. Between her and my brother the teenage heartthrob who left every girl who stepped into his path wanting, you could see why I was determined that I was the average looking one out of the family…

 

My Mom was wearing a black pants suit with a golden-beige blouse, her usual black, silver strapped high heels and earrings, needless to say she was wearing her wedding ring of course. I knew for a fact that she had made us all dress up to impress Aeris with our ‘Boutique De Twilight’ custom smart clothing.

 

As I reached the bottom of the staircase Marlene stopped twirling and locked eyes with me. She looked me up and down.

 

‘So, Roxie,’ I cringed at the name, ‘when are you getting dressed then, you need to look good you know!’ She said to me in the most sickeningly sweet voice possible.

 

‘Oh shush, Young Lady,’ Mom began, ‘Roxas, you look very, very handsome.’ She stated smiling from cheek to cheek at me, trying to imbue confidence in me.

 

‘Umm, thanks I guess, Mom…’ I tried.

 

I closed the door behind the 3 of us as we left the house, apparently Cloud and Dad had gone on ahead to have a drink with Zack and Leon beforehand (surprise, surprise).

 

Trudging along the path between our house and our destination I ignored the idle chatter between the 2 in front of me, instead thinking about yesterday... I had been successful in shattering Bastardhart’s record but he wasn’t at all fazed by it… in fact he had completely forgotten about his record being broken… maybe if I had beaten him instead of drawing… and I would have but…

 

I got distracted…

 

I had him beat…

 

And I heard her voice calling to him…

 

And I had seen her…

 

I felt all those angry emotions stir inside my heart again… the imaginary scenes in my mind that had driven me so close to doing something dreadful that one time when I was 13 years old…

 

No.

 

I had to shake them off, I couldn’t let those emotions back inside of me, not when I was going to have to sit through dinner with him and his entire family. Not when I would have to go to the same school as both of them… I had to fight this…

 

The sound of knocking was answered as soon as it sounded on the oak door before us.

 

An inhalation of breathe in the form of a gasp.

 

‘Oh Ashe you look gorgeous!’ I heard Aeris Leonhart say to my Mom, barely containing the squeal in her voice.

 

‘So do you! That is so your colour, Aeris!’ My Mom returned joyfully before engulfing her bestfriend in a mature, stately-styled hug. The well-mannered façade was so obvious, you could almost imagine their teenage, bestfriend versions glomping each other over fashion choices and having a sleepover so they could discuss whatever the hell girls discuss at sleepovers with other girls.

 

Mrs Leonhart, sorry, Aeris, was wearing a full length red gown-dress which was clearly as high-price designer as possible in Destiny Islands, she too wore black high heels and some jewellery that I presumed was standard for her on dress up occasions. While my Mom had styled her hair into wavy strands for depth, Aeris had straightened hair. The competition was clear between the two. I would have rolled my eyes at the idea but then I would be a hypocrite…

 

‘Marlene, oh my goodness, look at you!’ She greeted the little ‘angel’ next.

 

‘Thank you, Mrs Leonhart!’ She sing-songed before heading inside, by further high pitched voices I assumed there was another girl somewhere in the house that I hadn’t met yet, and she and Marlene were both very excited to see each other.

 

There was no time for me to react before another Leonhart had pulled me into a tight embrace.

 

‘It’s nice to finally see you again, Roxas.’ Aeris Leonhart spoke softly in that motherly tone she always carried with her.

 

She released me from her grip and stood back to look at me.

 

‘Yeah… umm nice to see you too Mrs-‘

 

‘Aeris.’ She finished for me, I had guessed correctly that she wouldn’t be treating me like a 6 year old anymore.

 

‘Aeris.’ I mimicked. Her smile grew.

 

‘I’m just so glad all of you are back, you’ve become such a handsome young man, Roxas.’ She continued.

 

‘Thanks, Mrs-‘

 

She looked at me pointedly with a quirked smile.

 

‘Aeris.’ I mimicked from before causing her to laugh and I actually felt myself smiling… but I couldn’t help it, Aeris had basically been my second mother as a child, just like my Mom was for that bastard I suppose…

 

‘Well come on in, I don’t think Sora can wait another second.’ Oh fuck here it comes… ‘Maybe he’ll finally be better now…’ I caught her say in almost a whisper… but I didn’t press her on the matter though I wanted to know exactly what that meant.

 

I followed Aeris into her household and shut the door behind me, admiring the fact that this was the same front door from years ago. In fact, looking around, everything was the same except for the sofas where my sister and the owner of the other high pitched voice sat talking rapidly to each other about their dresses. The other girl I could see from the doorway was wearing a bright pink party dress… typical…

 

After talking off my shoes like Aeris did I advanced a few steps cautiously so that no attention was drawn to me, everyone else was thankfully somewhere else in the house, even Aeris had disappeared already… but yeah… this place still looked like my own second home, Mr Leonha-Zach, I mean, his study was to my left, staircase straight ahead… sofas to the right with TV and sitting area… and…

 

I stopped in my tracks, staring at the open space between the sofas and French double doors that lead to the kitchen.

 

‘Our wrestling ring…’ I mumbled to myself, nostalgia was building in my heart that was for certain. First seeing Aeris again after so long, now this.

 

There was nothing for it, I darted into the darkness of Zack’s study and collected myself. I also had to wipe a bit of dirt out of my left eye, or something out of my left eye anyway because it had started watering and that had set off my right eye as well.

 

_Didn’t you just shower?_

_Oh great, you again!_

_Look, I’m just saying if you showered like half an hour ago, how can there be dirt in your eye?_

_Maybe it’s dusty in here!_

_Whatever, Man._

Sniffing and rubbing my eyes, I once again reached the entry way of the house, standing next to the front door with nothing but the company of 2 girls rabbiting on about dresses from across a pretty big room.

 

SLAM accompanied by a series of fast, light footsteps occurred somewhere upstairs.

 

I paid it no attention, I just continued to stand awkwardly attempting to admire the light walls of the room along with the family photos and the décor.

 

Fast footsteps descending stairs could be heard.

 

_Umm, hey, interior design critic?_

_What?_

_Remember that guy you hate?_

Fuck.

 

‘R-Roxas…’

 

I whipped around.

 

And there he was…

 

My eyes shot to the floor… I didn’t want to make eye contact… but I had no choice, I couldn’t just ignore one of my hosts, I had plenty of experience being a polite guest at dinner meetings when Dad had clients over or we went to their home. And apart from that I might hate Him… but I wasn’t a rude person either.

 

Raising my head I slowly made eye contact with a soft, plush white carpet… and then a pair of black socks… and then black semi-skin tight jeans, the type that looked almost formal they were so oddly smart. I felt myself gulp involuntarily as my eye level rose just past his knees, I had no idea why though. A rectangular, silver-clasp belt secured the jeans around slender hips… for some reason the Leonhart’s must have their heating on in summer or something during the evenings, that was the only thing that could explain my cheeks feeling heated and my heart beating faster. I took a second look at the belt area… I ummm wasn’t sure if ummm it was a square or rectangle and details mattered… yeah…

 

Designer was the key word for tonight as I then levelled with a tight-fitting deep-red shirt that fit the figure perfectly. His arms lay hanging at his side I noticed.

 

Eventually I locked eyes with the infamous silver crown necklace… I felt my cheeks redden slightly more because of the damn heat in this house…

 

But finally… finally…

 

Finally…

 

Final…

 

I just.

 

I…

 

I… ummm…

 

I was looking at his face, into his eyes… around his eyes… at his face again…

 

And well…

 

He urmmm…

 

He… Sora… Uhmmm…

 

I saw him last night but the anger must have been clouded my vision…

 

His cheeks were… well they were quite… ummm… almost chubby but… defined… and he clearly had dimples… and he had… ummm… they were burning red… he must feel the heating being on too…

 

He had thin lips… but they were… not thin but slender? Was that the right word? But they were pink and… I had no words really…

 

His jawline was defined… if anyone could have been accused of being airbrushed…

 

Pointy hair… brown hair… brown pointy hair…

 

I couldn’t even think properly now... because I had locked eyes with him… sky blue eyes… not a cloud in those skies… I could see myself reflected in them…

 

‘H-Hey, R-R-Roxas.’ He gulped at me.

 

‘H-Hi.’ I returned with my own gulp.

 

I was trembling and so was he… neither of us dared to break the conversation between our eyes…


	8. What Is Going On?

** Roxas’ P.O.V.: **

The silence between us must have only been a few moments but to me it was a lifetime. There were so many feelings coursing through my body… anger, because I hated this bastard with as much of my heart as I could… disgust, because of what he did to me… more anger, because he seemed oblivious to the things he did to drive me away from him…

And…

Happiness, because all the years of being separated from him were over…

But…

I hated him, so why do I feel like this when I look at him? And why did my chest feel so weird whenever he was around… I had felt it yesterday in my bedroom and even in our match but I think I had run out of anger for now… and the hatred seemed to slip away…

We were still standing face to face at the bottom of the staircase, what the hell do I even say to him?

Thankfully he broke the silence first.

‘I-I’m glad you came over.’ He spoke softly in my direction, his crystal blue eyes fluttering away for a second before they landed back on me and his cheeks grew redder (and they were already pretty fucking red by this point… the heating I presumed…).

‘W-well I wanted to see your Mom again and my family basically forced me to so… you know…’ I gestured back at him trying to avert my own gaze somewhere else, anywhere else except for that perfect face of his.

_Wait what did you just say?_

_Oh my god just stop it!_

_You just called his face perfect!_

_Well he looks like king of the fucking supermodels so duh!_

‘Oh. I get you.’ He replied. I refocussed my gaze on him and noticed he was staring at his feet shuffling his right foot around the carpet. He looked hurt.

‘Not like you give 2 fucks about me anyway though is it?’ I stated blankly with an undertone of ‘’how the fuck can you feel hurt when it’s you who fucking fucked me over you fucking bastard?’’.

‘Roxas…’ He looked back up at me with sad eyes.

I know I seemed cold on the outside, but on the inside all I wanted to do was reach out and wrap my arms around him, tell him I didn’t care about any of it as long as we spent the rest of our days making up for lost time… But he had _her_ now… he didn’t need me even now…

_Her…_

He had _her_ now…

‘Whatever, least you have _her_.’ I spat at him.

Hurt was replaced by a look of total confusion.

‘ _Her_?’ He responded with a confused eyebrow.

‘Yeah, _her_.’ I spat yet again, only barely suppressing the tears I held at the very image of what I had just said.

‘Roxas what on earth are you-‘

‘Boys, dinner is ready!’ Aeris shouted from somewhere.

Marlene and the other girl had already left the room and neither of us had realised how long we had been standing at the bottom of the staircase for. In fact, the living room slash entry way slash staircase was completely embedded with the darkness after sunset, only silver moonlit rays remained in the room, there was also some light filtering from the double French doors that I knew housed the kitchen.

Before that lying bastard could even open his mouth I had made it to said French doors. Upon entering, surprise, surprise, everything was the same as it had been before. Oak doors with ornate handles fitted the cupboards beneath granite topped work benches straight in front of me on the opposite wall of the room, and island topped with the same style granite was directly before that a few feet from me. I knew that beneath this island was the holding space for all of Aeris’ pots and pans (there were A LOT of those), as well as a large wine rack.

Currently the island was completely spaced out with plates and serving equipment. Aeris was rushing around at a ridiculous speed readying everything. The smells coming from the pots on the gas oven burners were just… delightful…

‘Can I help with anything?’ I asked her politely.

‘No thank you, Roxas, you’re my guest for the evening.’ Was her reply as she gave me a smile that acknowledged my politeness in response.

I nodded and turned left, entering the large dining room that lay at the very back of the house. Naturally all eyes were on me as soon as I walked in, why naturally? Well because it was pretty obvious to my family and by extension, his family that I did NOT want to be here.

‘Umm hi everyone…’ I stated simply before locking eyes with a chair and making my way over to sit down. I just kept my eyes focussed my target as I walked around the room to it, I knew how red my cheeks were still.

‘Nice to see you again, Roxas.’ I heard from my left at the far side of the table.

Zack Leonhart beamed at me from where the voice I knew to be his was. I smiled back.

‘Thanks, you too Mr-‘

I received the same look as with Aeris.

‘I mean, Zack.’ He chuckled.

Now that I had raised my head to look at my fellow diners for the evening the room was as follows:

As I entered through the kitchen, more glass doors lead to the veranda that stood at the head of the Leonhart garden. These were doubled glazed, French and very elegant as you could expect from Aeris’ tastes.

Straight ahead was the dining table made of whatever elaborate wood Aeris had wanted, I was unsure of the make though; this table continued running to the left of where the doors were all the way down the room, large enough to fit four people on either side of it and two people at either head.

Beyond that was a massive gilded armoire that contained fine plates, glasses and all that stuff that I had pretty much no interest in. Seriously, I did not give a shit about this room at all, or this house for that matter I just wanted to go home, crawl into bed and not think the thoughts that were on the brink of entering my mind…

Focus on something else…

Focus on something else…

Focus on something else…

I noticed that there was no one sitting at the head of the table on my end. Two chairs were pulled up to the other end of the table where Marlene and mystery little girl sat, beside them closest to the kitchen door sat Zack and Dad who were both laughing about something or other while Dad was facepalming and rubbing his forehead; next to Dad sat Cloud who was giving me an encouraging thumbs up, and beside him sat Leon who I only realised now I hadn’t seen since Christmas (Leon still visited Cloud while we lived at Twilight Town so I was pretty up to speed with that particular Leonhart making it slightly less awkward that he too was giving me a thumbs up, but mostly to mock Cloud who suddenly punched him on the arm slightly causing him to laugh).

To my left was an empty chair, I guess they had one spare or something…

And beyond that was Mom and another seat for Aeris.

Huffing I looked down at all the cutlery set before me… this was gonna be a big dinner apparently…

‘Hey, Rox.’ Leon said as he mockingly whispered at me, mockingly because he was talking loud enough for everyone to hear if they hadn’t been busy with their own conversations. ‘Have you two kissed and made up yet?’

I felt my cheeks flush again… must have been the heating again… Cloud burst out chuckling and clamped a hand over his mouth apologising with his eyes to me, I just scowled at him.

‘Hmph.’ I returned.

‘No?’ Leon offered looking amused at the suggestion.

I just sighed in response.

‘Sora would love to-‘ he was cut off by the owner of the name mentioned entering the room.

_Wait why’s he coming over to me?_

_Spare seat, really? Fuck you’re stupid, you know that don’t you?_

_You mean we’re stupid then?_

_So childish and petty…_

My subconscious was right though, I was very wrong about having a spare seat next to me, because Sir Bastardhart the First himself came all the way around the table, brushed by my sitting form and sat his bastardy body next to mine at the table greeting Cloud and Leon before resting his gaze upon me.

There was a moment of silence between the 4 of us.

‘Well.’ Cloud began. ‘This is awkward.’ He stated simply causing Leon to pretty much convulse in a fit of suppressed laughter.

The object of my hatred sat looking between the 3 of us and finally sighed before fixing his gaze on his place in front of him. Smiling a small smile to himself.

_Urgh could this be any worse…?_

_Yeah, you could have to sit and watch you do stupid things all day, and say stupid things all day, and-_

‘So, Roxas, care to tell us what internal dialogue you’re having?’ Cloud smirked.

‘Will whoever you talk to in your head be joining us for dinner, Rox? Tell him that Mom makes a wonderful sorbet that he simply must try!’ Leon added before taking a generous gulp of his beer. Cloud was practically on the floor in hysterics now.

I felt the presence of His gaze back upon me as I continued to look at my brother, but thankfully Aeris Leonhart, superheroine of the day, saved me yet again.

‘Okay everyone, dinner is about to be served!’ She called from the kitchen.

 

.o0o.

 

** Leon’s P.O.V.: **

How do you spell awkward?

Actually, no, how do you spell weird?

No wait, wait. How do you spell completely fucked up?

The answer to all 3 of those things is this: the relationship between my pseudo baby brother Roxas and my actual baby brother Sora.

The four of us: Cid, Dad, Cloud and I had been drinking for about 2 hours before we all sat down for dinner. So when Mom asked who wanted wine with their starter course, which happened to be lobster bisque and seasoned croutons, all of us jumped at the opportunity, and before Sora and Roxas knew it they each had a gigantic glass of red wine placed in front of them. Red wine goes well with lobster bisque… something about right chemicals on the taste pallet… but the reason there was red wine in front of them was because we had a plan.

Yes, our mystery solving gang had decided to get two 15 year olds blind drunk and force them to just get it all out in the open. Mainly for their sakes, but mostly for our sanity.

And no, neither Mom nor Ashe Strife knew about this ploy.

Now this was where the plan got interesting…

Dad and Cid had the specific jobs of keeping Marlene and Sarah talking usual 9 year old girl crap to distract Mom and Ashe. Meanwhile, Cloud and I would try to keep slipping our kid brothers more and more wine until they were both wasted enough to have an emotional conversation, cry it all out, hug (and probably make out or something like when they were 5) and then we could all just live our normal daily lives without semi-insane, self-harming little brothers.

That was the plan.

So far though, Roxas and Sora were both just quietly eating, not speaking, and looking directly at their bisque. Oh, and of course Sora would sneak glances at Roxas, Roxas would notice and try to catch him, Sora would turn away before he could, and then Roxas would sneak glances at Sora. That had been their pattern for the past… 7 minutes… I was clock watching it was so painful.

By the time everyone had finished their bisques, the bowls had been cleared and watermelon sorbet had been served as a pallet cleanser Sora was trying to mask the fact that he was feeling the wine having drank half of his gigantic glass.

What about Roxas you ask?

Well he had been so eager to not talk that he had engulfed his bisque in seconds and had drained his wine glass empty. Blondie Junior had about five minutes before all that red alcoholic goodness went straight to his head.

The sorbet was sublime, just as the bisque had been delicious, and of course, due to Roxas’ no talking policy, as Cloud and I made idle chatter which Sora occasionally chipped into between stares at Roxas, we had suggested more wine be served. Roxas welcomed this because more wine met less talking for him to do without looking rude.

Problem for Roxas though was that Mom and Ashe were determined to make us all take the floor for a few minutes so that we were all caught up with each other’s lives. We were practically one massive family after all, despite Roxas and Sora having issues.

By the time the main course of roast beef served with garlic mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and broccoli, as well as a choice of mushy or garden peas, I had just finished my recount of the past couple of months since I had last seen the Strifes.

Which meant it was Sora’s turn, and he was now waaaaay beyond the tipsy threshold having just reached a giant glass and a half of wine.

‘So, Sora,’ Ashe began from next to him, ‘we haven’t seen you in such a long time, what have you been up to all these years?’ She continued in her motherly voice.

‘Weeeell.’ Sora stated, blinking heavily at the conclusion of his response.

I chanced a glance at Dad down the table and saw that his hand was clamped firmly over his own mouth, he was purple and shaking and sweating, like actually shaking and sweating with repressed laughter. He turned slightly and caught sight of me looking at him and his grin almost caused him to burst right then and there.

Sarah and Mom were also trying to hold back their amused reactions.

Marlene was laughing mostly at Sarah, but she had a twinkle in her eye that Cloud told me meant she was plotting something.

Cid was quietly chuckling with his body slightly turned facing the wall, he was crying it was so bad.

Ashe was also highly amused to the point of laughing but she was doing her absolute best not to laugh at her pseudo son who she hadn’t seen in almost a decade.

‘Soooo,’ Sora continued, ‘I go to school.’ He began counting on his finger, sticking his tongue out and trying hard to concentrate.

Everyone’s reactions doubled.

Roxas was trying to look unamused, but he was even drunker than Sora and was cracking a smile.

‘Iiiiiii like to do Struggle stuff, ummm Struggle things, umm I mean, Struggling things.’ He continued counting two extra on his fingers by accident.

I refilled his glass with wine which he immediately took a sip of. Same with Roxas, now Sora had caught up with him as they began their third glass each.

‘Struggling things, Sor?’ I asked him causing Roxas to silently snigger behind his hands.

‘Yeah! With the thing that you use to try and hit people, Leon! You did that thing too ‘member?’ He almost hiccupped back at me earning a raised eyebrow from Mom and a small giggle from Ashe.

Dad and Cid were both facing the other wall from the table now having turned around completely in their chairs. Dad looked like he might die from this.

‘Okay, so you go to school and do Struggling things,’ Marlene voiced from the other end of the table.

‘Yep!’ Sora happily concluded, satisfied with himself in his efforts to act sober.

‘And what else?’ She continued. What was she up to? That glint in her eye definitely meant trouble apparently.

‘Annnnnnd…’ Sora was gazing into the corner of the ceiling with a raised eyebrow ready to count to four on his fingers.

‘And thinking about Roxas nonstop?’ Marlene suggested to him.

‘Oh yeah! And thinking about Roxie nonstop!’ Sora concluded, looking triumphantly back at Ashe as if he had just delivered an award winning speech, his smile went from ear to ear.

Dad sprayed his mouthful of wine at the wall.

Cid fell off his chair laughing.

Cloud was going catatonic he was laughing so hard.

Marlene and Sarah were giggling mentally very pleased with their success.

Ashe and Mom were laughing a bit but they were exchanging motherly looks that read ‘that is the sweetest thing ever.’

Roxas however was sat with his mouth hanging open to the point where wine was drizzling out from the corner of his mouth onto his napkin.

I knew my brother and the impact of what he had just said had finally hit him. He was flushed crimson and slowly turned his head to lock eyes with Roxas, who still had his mouth open, he was making shocked fish motions with his mouth trying to speak… or more likely retaliate verbally.

But he couldn’t.

Why couldn’t he retaliate? Some would expect him to go mental and either throw a punch or tell Sora to fuck off, but at the end of the day Roxas still probably knew Sora better than I did, even with ten years of absence from his life. And if I thought Sora meant what he had just said, then Roxas was almost certainly at the same conclusion.

The only difference was that I knew for a damn fact that Sora was telling the truth when he said he thought about Roxas all the time. The first time Sora discovered Roxas had _Facebook_ he had sat for ten hours and twenty seven minutes straight just staring at his profile picture.

I had suggested he send him a friend request but Sora didn’t actually respond to that suggestion until the next day, he didn’t talk, he didn’t move, he refused to. He just sat and stared at that picture for ten hours and twenty seven minutes straight.

Sora drunkenly reached over to Roxas and closed his mouth for him and then used his own napkin to wipe around Roxas’ mouth where he had wine drops. Roxas blushed as much as Sora had done seconds ago.

‘Fucksake, they really need to just get a room with each other.’ Cloud whispered only enough for me to hear.

I didn’t even laugh at the comment.

‘Definitely.’ I agreed. That fact was so true I couldn’t even find it humorous.

‘So, Roxas, how have you been?’ Mom asked trying desperately to move the centre of focus away from Sora’s bizarreness.

Drunk Roxas’ gaze was still attached to Sora, he didn’t look pissed off at Sora’s sudden actions, but he certainly didn’t look happy either. Blondie Junior didn’t seem to even register that he was being spoken to.

‘Roxas, manners please.’ Ashe prompted him.

‘Come on, Rox, what have you been doing for nearly 10 years-‘

‘Not thinking about Sora.’ Roxas spat at my question, his expression changing to deep anger as he locked eyes with me. So short but so scary sometimes…

Sora may as well have been shot. I watched as my baby brother returned to staring at his empty dinner plate, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

The tension was thick as Roxas’ comment echoed throughout the empty room.

Cid and Dad were sat in silence avoiding the young blond’s fierce eyes.

Ashe was sending ‘’that’s enough, stop talking’’ signals towards Roxas while Aeris just looked sad as she watched Sora dripping tears into the remnants of his gravy.

I felt bad for Sora as best a concerned older brother possibly could, but there had to be a reason for Roxas abandoning him… and us… and tonight was the best shot we had ever had at finding out what the hell had happened.

Thank you, Marlene Strife, the scheming girl was right on cue.

‘But why, Roxas? Why don’t you like Sora.’ She teased at him as Sarah watched on, unsure as to whether she should be helping her new bestfriend in a scheme against her own family.

‘Oh I don’t know!’ Roxas sing-songed back much too loudly, his 4th glass of wine long gone as he swayed visibly.

‘Yes you do. Tell us.’ She prodded, a malicious smile on her face.

‘Marlene! Behave!’ Ashe scalded her daughter, but the damage was done.

‘Yeah… tell me.’ Sora’s voice cracked as he looked up and met Roxas’ stare.

‘Fine! Fine, you want to know why I hate you so much?’

Sora nodded as tears continued to stream like wild rivers.

Roxas leant in close, so close he was almost nose to nose with my brother.

‘Ask. Your. Fucking. Girlfriend.’ He spat for the second time that night.

What the fuck did he just say?

I liked to think my family are quite relaxed in general, me and Dad have always been more like friends than anything, Sora is hyper but so selfless and kind it doesn’t matter, Sarah is like a combo of Sora, Dad and Mom, and Mom is strict but as long as we were polite and minded our manner she was pretty mellow.

So yeah, we were all quite similar really, and at that moment we were definitely a hive mind.

And that hive mind said ‘’what the fuck is he talking about’’, even Mom and I had never heard her swear before.

‘Wait, wait, wait.’ I stated bluntly, halting Roxas before another burst of rage could erupt from him. ‘Since when have you ever had a girlfriend?’ I directed the question at my puppy of a younger brother.

It was obvious when Sora was lying and the next words that came out of his mouth were probably the most honest, truthful thing I had ever heard him say.

‘I’ve never had a girlfriend, Roxas, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ The puppy sniffled as he spoke, looking up into the hateful, blue eyes of Roxas.

How do I know this was the truth? Pretty simple really, Sora was gay as hell for Roxas, it was blindingly obvious.

‘Didn’t you catch him wanking to a photo of Roxas shirtless at the beach?’ Cloud whispered so that only I could hear.

‘Yep.’ I responded with laughter which only earned more scorn from Roxas and a disapproving look from Mom.

Oh, and I had caught him wanking over photos of Roxas from _Facebook_ several times. Not something you wanna catch your own little brother doing, especially when it’s over your pseudo-little brother from another family.

So yeah, the concept of Sora and _girlfriend_ together is an impossible one.

‘Y-you’re lying.’ Roxas insisted, but we all saw the falter in his anger, he was doubting the stupid conclusion that he had set in his mind for the past decade.

‘Hang on a minute.’ Dad started. ‘All of this has been because you thought he had a girlfriend?’

‘No!’ Was his response.

‘Then why?’ Cloud chipped in.

‘Because you-‘ he poked Sora straight in the chest before standing up almost stumbling over his chair.

‘Because I what?’ Sora pleaded, his expression betraying how deeply he wanted to know.

‘Because as soon as I left, you replaced me with _her,_ and you just forgot about me.’ Roxas huffed, and like that his fury had subsided.

Roxas sat back down in his seat, the regular colour of his cheeky replacing the red tide that had washed over them as his tirade started.

A bell dinged in the distance.

‘Oh dessert!’ Mom started, practically leaping up towards the kitchen.

‘I’ll help!’ Ashe added, fleeing from the scene also.

Dad and Cid went back to talking my sister and Marlene, knowing that this was the final stage of our plan.

‘Roxas, Sora doesn’t and has never, ever, and I mean ever, had a girl or boyfriend.’ I stated.

Sora made eye contact with me, his eyes said, ‘thank you, he won’t listen to me’, he was so sad it was painful to witness.

‘He’s lying.’ Roxas responded dully, the effects of the wine changing to sleepiness.

‘I’m not.’ Sora added equally as dully, Roxas turned in his chair to stare straight into Sora’s eyes.

‘And even your family are convinced it’s the truth, how pathetic are you?’ He spoke sadly.

‘Roxas-‘

‘You’ve convinced your entire family, and mine,’ the look of resentment directed at Cloud was so sharp even I could feel it, ‘that you didn’t do anything to me.’

‘Who do you even think my girlfriend is?’ Sora asked still confused by how Roxas could even think he had one in the first place.

‘Pfft. Try and remember what happened when I came to visit you that one time after we left, there’s your fucking answer.’ Roxas stated before becoming so overcome by the wine’s effects he placed his arms onto the dining table and buried his face in them, ready for sleep to takeover.

Sora sat silent but the determined look on his face spoke more than words could.

It was the face Sora showed when he Struggled against Riku to preserve his streak for so many years.

It was the face Sora showed when he had to study for a Maths test… or a History test… or Biology…

It was the face Sora showed that night when he wished on the meteor shower, though he never told me his wish, I knew it was sitting right beside him in the flesh at our dining table.

It was the face Sora showed as he Struggled against Roxas yesterday, his greatest and most devastating battle ever.

And now it was the face Sora showed as he watched Roxas, still determined that they could go back to how they used to be as little kids…

I admired Sora… he just never gave up…

The rest of the night washed over me as Cloud and I sat in silence with our younger brothers, the rest of our families leaving the childish quarrel at the other end of the table.

But still Sora sat with that look on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed and his usual smile was replaced with a thin-lipped expression.

And before I really knew it the Strifes had gone home, leaving Mom and Dad to clean up. I had offered to help but with Sarah in bed, I was the only one left to sit with Sora, and if they were being honest, neither Mom nor Dad knew what the fuck to do about any of this.

As usual, Sora’s Roxas crisis was left to me.

Currently the two of us were sitting at opposite ends of one of the leather sofas in the lounge and I figured that now was the best time to find out the truth from him.

‘Sora.’

He looked up at me.

‘I need to know the truth from you.’ Sora went to speak but I cut him off. ‘Listen, if you had a girlfriend and Roxas found out, that’s okay, I’m your brother and I swear I won’t do anything but try to help you fix things with him.’

I wasn’t exactly great at emotional stuff with my family, but hey, that was pretty good, right?

‘Leon, YOU know I don’t like girls.’ He said through gritted teeth at me trying to stay quiet but get his point across at the same time.

‘Even just once, if you were curious about what it would be like that’s okay, Sora.’ I tried.

His expression remained.

‘I have never been curious about anything except for why the fuck he hates me.’ Sora ended the conversation… or tried to… not so fucking quick little brother…

‘Sora, you’re popular, no, you’re the most popular kid at school. Big Struggle star in the making et cetera et cetera, are you sure you never had an offer from a fangirl and just… went with it?’

I so did not want to imagine Sora and a girl doing things… god damn it Cloud the things I do for your insane brother…

Sora just scoffed.

‘I. Am. Married.’ He stated holding out his silver necklace. ‘And I don’t like girls that way, they have no appeal to me.’

‘Are you one hundred percent sure, Sora?’

‘Yes, Leon, I would swear this on anything.’ He did actually end the conversation this time with his glum, fed up expression, putting his face into his palms and balancing his arms on his knees.

I was right then, Sora was telling the truth, I knew it. So what the hell was Roxas on about…

‘And before you ask.’ Sora started without looking up. ‘I don’t remember what he means by that thing when he came to see me, I have no idea what he saw or thinks he saw… I just don’t know…’

And I believe him…

 

.o0o.

 

**Sora’s P.O.V.**

The deep violet, cloudless night was beginning to give way to the orange hues of dawn, and I couldn’t wait.

Saturday night was the second night of my two night insomnia cycle and I was so tired from waking up at 3pm instead of my usual 5 or 6 that I just wanted to curl up and sleep forever… well only forever if I could bring Roxas with me… or else just for a few hours… no point in eternity without the other half of your soul after all…

‘Hhfff.’

What was Roxas even talking about? He had mentioned _Her_ several times, whoever this mystery girl was she was apparently my girlfriend and she had replaced him in my life…

‘Fuck it. Let’s see… Mom, Grandma, Sarah, Kai and Nami.’ I recited.

Those five women or girls were the only ones in my life so which one was _Her_ …

It wasn’t Mom, Roxas loved Mom like his own Mom….

I yawned, my sleepiness was stirring finally as dawn overcame night.

Grandma… nah we barely see her… she and Grandad are always off travelling the world and we only see them once every few years…

_Roxas said Girlfriend, it’s not gonna be them, is it?_

_Or Sarah…_

_Nope, so it’s Kairi or Namine apparently._

_But that’s so dumb, they’re like my sisters, how could he even think that?_

Silence.

‘Nice job, Brain.’ Was all I could say, smiling slightly at my own insanity.

But what happened when he visited?

The desire to sleep finally washed over me as I put my head back against my bed pillow and wished for a nice long dream about Roxie and I cuddling…

And Roxie… god dammit did I want to cuddle him badly… I would have loved him even if he was the ugliest person in the world… he was my Roxas after all and I was hardly anything special…

But he was so hot…

I stopped my thoughts right there… I was too tired to indulge a naughty Roxie fantasy this morning…

Girlfriend… I’ve only ever managed to get it up over Roxas… not even another guy… just him… only him… forever him…

Sleep took me.

_A gigantic, bright light blinded me, engulfing everything in sight._

_I turned away from and shook my head, rubbing my eyes willing the light to stop its cruelty._

_It worked._

_And I could feel sand beneath my feet again._

_A beach, was this Atlantica again?_

_The murderous light was the sun and it had relented for now as it cast its rays over the cyan colour of near-tropical shallows._

_Cyan… this wasn’t Atlantica then._

_No I knew where I was now at least._

_Destiny Islands._

_But this was weird, I had never dreamt of Destiny Islands before and where was Roxas, he usually appeared by now._

_Something was very wrong here, in 10 years this was not how things had happened._

_I turned towards the city, trying to gather my bearings but there was no city, the direction that the sun had obscured was a mass of water… but…_

_It was blood red and the sun had turned to the moon as I looked that way…_

_What the hell was going on…_

_And there was crying… It sounded like… I remembered that exact noise from when I was little but who it belonged to seemed to be missing from my memory._

_I turned back around and saw the sun again, the cyan waves and heard the sound of the beach._

_I looked down towards my feet and usual dream red shorts that lay past my white t-shirt._

_I wonder…_

_I turned completely around in a circle slowly and watched the sea turn red and then cyan again… and then watched the sun become the moon and the moon the sun… but I couldn’t figure out when each began and the other ended…_

_I resolved to stay looking at the greeny blue ocean and sat on the sand bank I was stood on, exhaling… where the hell was dream Roxas…?_

_‘He’s waiting.’ A patched, raspy voice called out from the space around me._

_No. I wasn’t afraid. I knew that voice from somewhere._

_It was familiar… and at the same time it felt like…_

_Like… it was my own._

_I looked at the sand around me waiting for the voice to continue._

_‘Holy shit!’ I started to my feet as my shadow began to move and the sand beneath it turned into black sludge._

_The black sludge took shape, rising and rising until it became and incomprehensible block of nothingness that stood level to my eyes._

_This is a dream… it can’t hurt me…_

_I reached my Islands-bronzed hand towards the shape and was met by a mirroring black hand that touched me as I touched it, yet I felt nothing as our hands collided in the exchange._

_‘Okay who are you and where’s Roxas? We’re meant to be cuddling by now!’ I stated, furrowing my eyebrows at the shape._

_‘He’s waiting.’ The horrendous voice responded, shrugging at me._

_‘What are you talking about?’ Seriously, what the hell was in the wine they gave me._

_‘I said, he’s waiting.’ Responded the dead and alive voice._

_‘Fine, okay, Mr Weirdo, waiting where?’ I asked being more than a bit irritated that I wasn’t cuddling dream Roxie right now._

_‘On either side.’ Answered Mr Weirdo._

_…_

_…_

_‘What the hell does THAT MEAN?’ Okay I was pissed now, I was NOT here for riddles._

_‘It’s your memory that you wanted.’ Wait, I was thinking about this just before I fell asleep._

_‘Do you know what happened between me and Roxie?’_

_The shape shook his head._

_‘Oh.’ I was disappointed._

_‘But you do.’ His finger colliding with my chest and entering my heart._

_‘I DON’T! That’s the problem!’_

_‘I only came… to see that you succeeded.’ The shape said._

_‘SUCEED AT WHAT?’_

_Black sludge dripped from where the shape’s eyes could have been… but I couldn’t tell._

_‘There’s two sides here, Sora, you’ve seen how both look from the outside.’_

_I turned around to look at the bloody, moonlit sea._

_‘I don’t get it.’ I was so confused it was hurting my head._

_I turned to look back at the blue sea with its dazzling sun and sky._

_The figure grabbed my shoulders and spoke with the most toxic, deadly voice I could have ever conjured in my worst nightmares:_

_‘Keep searching the Chain of Memories. You don’t have to lose him Sora, YOU get to have a choice.’ My head went fuzzy and the figure shoved me backwards._

_I fell._

_And fell._

_And fell as I fell through the sunlit sky._

_Cloudlessness zoomed by as I fell and in that instance I saw the figure falling opposite me through the moonlight, and I watched as he plunged into the bloody water as I equally plunged into the warm, brilliant blue water._

Awaking drenched in sweat, I hastily looked at the clock that sat beside my bed: 11am.

‘Uuuuurggggh.’ I groaned out of exhaustion.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

‘Sora, you okay? You were screaming.’ My Dad was calling through the locked door of my bedroom.

‘Yeah, Dad, nightmare.’ I responded groggily.

‘Nightmare? You’ve never screamed before, are you sure you’re okay in there?’ He prodded.

‘Honestly, I’m okay.’ Even though I wasn’t.

‘Okay then.’ My Dad padded away down the hallway again.

Beach…

Bloody Sea…

Mr Weirdo…

Chain of Memories…

Whatever the hell all of that was it… maybe it meant something…

After last night I knew Roxas wanted nothing to do with me for a while… and even though I could happily spend every waking second with him, sat in silence as he hated me I did want things to get better, so unless he came over to forgive me and tell me how much he loves me today, I knew that I wouldn’t see my one true love until tomorrow… at school.

And I would wait… for Roxas I would always wait…


End file.
